A Different Toothless
by RiderWitchVampire7
Summary: What if a certain Viking hadn't picked up a tiny, green, whiny, self-centered toothless dragon to train but a blue, talented, adorable, fierce, loyal, toothless baby Night Fury instead? Bookverse with Movieverse twist, more info inside
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome all to my new story! The first few chapters will be pretty similar to the book, but with a fe significant changes, and it will diverge from canon more as the story goes on. This story is a bit of a what-if, but I made some other changes, mostly headcanon stuff that will also be incorporated into my other httyd stories, but can be confusing if you don't expect it to be there. I'll explain most of it in the story, and as I go along, but for now: the dragon life cycle.**

 **Dragons hatch from eggs in the winter (around Snoggletog), and grow slowly but steadily for six years, in the Tiny Tooth stage. Then, the winter they turn 6, they hibernate. They have a massive growth spurt over the course of the year, then they hibernate again, during the winter of their 7th birthday. Then, they grow slowly bit steadily for 6 more years in the Shortwing stage. They have another hibernation winter, growth spurt year, and hibernation winter. They emerge as Broadwings, and grow slowly but steadily for the next six years until they are fully mature. Later in life, the dragon may or may not become a Titanwing, and I haven't decided if that will involve hiberna ting or not.**

 **So, the Initiates capture dragons that have just turned seven, and are now Shortwings which have just gone through a growth spurt year. They will keep the dragons for six years if they can train them successfully, then the dragons go into hibernation. Some stay with their masters, who have to suffer through the resulting growth spurt, and some leave and hibernate somewhere else, usually never to be seen again. But by the time a dragon becomes a Broadwing, they will almost always turn on their master and either attack or flee, because they are now bigger than the Vikings and don't want to be yelled at anymore, no matter how much fish they are given.**

 **But there are exceptions.**

 **The Vikings do ride dragons, but these riding-dragons are breeds that are naturally submissive to anyone who proves they are strong enough to be in charge, and are usually captured and trained as Broadwing adults. Nobody has ever ridden fully-grown Monstrous Nightmares, Gronckles, Deadly Nadders, or other dragons that raid the village.**

 **Yes, this Berk has dragon raids, which I'll explain at the end of the chapter because this note is too long already. There are also girls in the Initiation Program.**

 **For those of you who have read all the books... I've only read the first four, and I recently learned some stuff online from the later books that totally disproves pretty much everything I made up... so to be safe, we'really going to ignore any information that came from any book besides the first, unless I bring in that information.**

 **Review or PM me if you have any questions. If you read this entire Author's Note... digital cookies to you, and you'll be less confused than the people who skipped it, so hey!**

Long ago, on the wild and windy isle of Berk, a smallish Viking with a longish name stood up to his ankles in snow.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the hope and heir to the Tribe of Hairy Hooligans, had been feeling slightly sick ever since he woke up that morning.

Twelve young Vikings, including Hiccup, were hoping to become full members of the Tribe by passing the Dragon Initiation Program. They were standing on a bleak little beach at the bleakest spot on the whole bleak island. A heavy snow was falling.

"PAY ATTENTION!" screamed Gobber the Belch, the soldier in charge of teaching Initiation. "This will be your first military operation, and Hiccup will be commanding the team."

"Oh, not Hic-cup," groaned Dogsbreath the Duhbrain and most of the other recruits. "You can't put Hiccup in charge, sir, he's USELESS."

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of Hairy Hooligans, wiped his nose miserably on his sleeve. He sank a little deeper into the snow.

"ANYBODY would be better than Hiccup," sneered Snotface Snotlout. "Even Fishlegs would be better than Hiccup."

Fishlegs had a squint that made him blind as a jellyfish, and an allergy to reptiles.

"SILENCE!" roared Gobber the Belch. "The next of you to speak has limpets for lunch for the next THREE WEEKS!"

There was absolute silence immediately. Limpets are a bit like worms and a bit like snot and a lot less tasty than either.

"Hiccup will be in charge and that is an order!" screamed Gobber, who didn't do noises quieter than screaming. He was a seven-foot giant with a mad glint in his one working eye and a beard like exploding fireworks. Despite the freezing cold he was wearing hairy shorts and a teeny weeny deerskin vest that showed off his lobster-red skin and bulging muscles. He was holding a flaming torch in one gigantic fist.

"Hiccup will be leading you, although he is, admittedly, completely useless, because Hiccup is the son of the CHIEF, and that's the way things go with us Vikings. Where do you think you are, the REPUBLIC OF ROME? Anyway, that is the least of your problems today. You are here to prove yourself as a Viking Hero. And it is an ancient tradition of the Hooligan Tribe that you should-" Gobber paused dramatically- "FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON!"

 _Ohhhhhh suffering scallops,_ thought Hiccup.

"Our dragons are what set us apart!" bellowed Gobber. "Lesser humans train hawks to hunt for them, horses to carry them. It is only the VIKING HEROES who dare to tame the wildest, most dangerous creatures on Earth."

Gobber spat solemnly into the snow. "There are three parts to the Dragon Initiation Test. The first and most dangerous part is a test of your courage and skill at burglary. If you wish to enter the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, you must first catch your dragon. And that is WHY," continued Gobber at full volume, "I have brought you here to this scenic spot. Take a look at Wild Dragon Cliff itself."

The twelve young Vikings tipped their heads backward.

The cliff loomed dizzyingly high over them, black and sinister. In summer you could barely even see the cliff as dragons of all shapes and sizes swarmed over it, snapping and biting and sending up a cacophony of noise that could be heard all over Berk.

But in winter the dragons were hibernating and the cliff fell silent, except for the ominous, low rumble of their snores. Hiccup could feel the vibrations through his sandals.

"Now," said Gobber, "do you notice those four caves about halfway up the cliff, grouped roughly in the shape of a skull?"

The initiates nodded.

"Inside the cave that would be the right eye of the skull is the Dragon Nursery, where there are, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, three thousand young dragons having their last few weeks of winter sleep."

"OOOOOOOH," muttered the boys and Ruffnut excitedly.

Hiccup swallowed hard. He happened to know considerably more about dragons than anybody else there. Ever since he was a small boy, he had been fascinated by the creatures. He'd spent hour after long hour dragon watching in secret. (Dragon-spotters were thought to be geeks and nerds, hence the need for secrecy.) And what Hiccup had learned about dragons told him that walking into a cave with three thousand dragons in it was an act of madness.

Most of the others didn't seem too concerned, however. Dogsbreath was grinning foolishly, Snotlout was absentmindedly flexing his muscles while eyeing the cliff, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut Jr. had positively gleeful grins on their faces, while Clueless looked clueless. At least Fishlegs looked nervous but determined, and Astrid seemed to be taking the whole thing very seriously, but she still looked confident in her abilities.

"In a few minutes I want you to take one of the baskets and start climbing the cliff," commanded Gobber the Belch. "Once you are at the cave entrance, you are on your own. I am too large to squeeze my way into the tunnels that lead to the Dragon Nursery. You will enter the cave QUIETLY- and that means you, too, Wartihog, unless you want to become the first spring meal for three thousand hungry dragons, HA HA HA HA!"

Gobber laughed heartily at his little joke, then continued. "Dragons this size are normally fairly harmless to man, but in these numbers they will set upon you like piranhas. There'd be nothing left of even a fatso like you, Wartihog- just a pile of bones and your helmet. HA HA HA HA! So… you will walk QUIETLY through the cave and each recruit will steal ONE sleeping dragon. Lift the dragon GENTLY from the rock and place it in your basket. Any questions so far?"

Nobody had any questions.

"In the unlikely event that you DO wake the dragons- and you would have to be IDIOTICALLY STUPID to do so- run like thunder for the entrance to the cave. Dragons do not like cold weather and the snow will probably stop them in their tracks."

 _Probably?_ thought Hiccup. _Oh, well,_ that's _reassuring._

"I suggest you spend a little time choosing your dragon. It is important to get one the correct size. This will be the dragon that hunts fish for you, and pulls down deer for you. You will catch the dragon that will carry you into battle later on, when you are much older and a Warrior of the Tribe. But, nonetheless, you want an impressive animal, so a rough guide would be, choose the biggest creature that will fit into your basket. Don't linger for TOO long in there-"

 _Linger?_ thought Hiccup. _In a cave full of three thousand sleeping DRAGONS?_

"I need not tell you," Gobber continued cheerfully, "that if you return to this spot _without_ a dragon, it is hardly worth coming back at all. Anybody who FAILS this task will be put into immediate exile. The Hairy Hooligan Tribe has no use for FAILURES. Only the strong can belong."

Unhappily, Hiccup looked round at the distant horizon. Nothing but snow and sea as far as the eye could see. Exile didn't look too promising either.

"RIGHT," said Gobber briskly. "Each initiate take a basket to put their dragon in and we'll get going."

The young Vikings rushed to get their baskets, chattering happily and excitedly.

"I'm going to get one of those Monstrous Nightmare ones with the extra-extendable claws. They're really scary," boasted Snotlout.

"Oh shut up, Snotlout, you can't," said Speedifist. "Only Hiccup can have a Monstrous Nightmare, you have to be the son of a chief." Hiccup's father was Stoick the Vast, the fearsome chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe.

"HICCUP?" sneered Snotlout. "If he's as useless at this as he is at Bashyball, we'll be lucky if he even gets one of the Basic Browns."

The Basic Brown was the most common type of dragon, a serviceable beast but without much glamour.

"SHUDDUP AND GET INTO LINE YOU MISERABLE LITTLE TADPOLES!" yelled Gobber the Belch.

The recruits scrambled into their places, baskets on their backs, and stood to attention. Gobber walked along the line, lighting the torch that each initiate held in front of them from the great flare in his hand.

"IN HALF AN HOUR'S TIME YOU WILL BE A VIKING WARRIOR, WITH YOUR FAITHFUL SERPENT AT YOUR SIDE… OR BREAKFASTING WITH WODEN IN VALHALLA WITH DRAGONS' TEETH IN YOUR BOTTOM!" screamed Gobber with horrible enthusiasm.

"DEATH OR GLORY!" yelled Gobber.

"DEATH OR GLORY!" yelled ten young Vikings back at him frantically.

 _Death,_ thought Hiccup and Fishlegs sadly.

Gobber paused dramatically, with the horn to his lips.

 _I think this could possibly be the worst moment of my life SO FAR,_ thought Hiccup to himself as he waited for the blast of the horn. _And if they shout much louder, we're going to wake up those dragons before we even START._ Hiccup's only consolation was that the only nearby dragons were Tiny Tooths and Shortwings- Broadwings, the adults, were much more lethal, and Hiccup had only encountered them in raids and seen from a distance. The cave they were going into contained only the newest and therefore smallest Shortwings, hibernating to recover from their growth spurt year after the Tiny Tooth stage.

"PARRRRRRRRRP!" Gobber blew the horn.

You probably have guessed by now that Hiccup was not your natural Viking Hero.

For a start, he didn't LOOK like a Hero. Somebody like Snotlout, for instance, was tall, muscley, covered in skeleton tattoos, and already had the beginnings of a small moustache. This consisted of a few straggly yellow hairs clinging to his upper lip and was deeply unpleasant to look at, but still impressively manly for a boy not yet thirteen.

Hiccup was on the small side and had the kind of face that was almost entirely unmemorable. He DID have Heroic Hair, which was bright red and stood up vertically however much you tried to wet it down with seawater. But nobody ever saw that because it was hidden under his helmet most of the time.

You would NEVER have picked Hiccup out of those ten boys and two girls to be the Hero of this story. Snotlout was good at everything and a natural leader. Dogsbreath was as tall as his father and could do amusing things like farting the Berk national anthem. Astrid was small like Hiccup, but that was fine because she was a girl, she still was pretty muscular for a twelve year old, and like Snotlout was good at everything and a natural leader but unlike Snotlout was not inclined to let her ego get in the way.

Hiccup was just absolutely average, the kind of unremarkable, skinny, freckled boy who was easy to overlook in a crowd.

So, when Gobber blew the horn and moved out of sight to find a comfortable rock to sit on and eat his mussel-and-tomato sandwich, Snotlout pushed Hiccup out of the way and took charge.

"Okay, listen up, boys," he whispered in a menacing fashion as Astrid rolled her eyes and Ruffnut protested. "I'M in charge, not the Useless. And anybody who objects gets a knuckle sandwich from Dogsbreath the Duhbrain."

"Ugh," grunted Dogsbreath, pounding his fists together in happy excitement. Dogsbreath was Snotlout's chief sidekick and a great, big gorilla of a boy.

"Bash him, Dogsbreath, to show what I mean…"

Dogsbreath was delighted to oblige. He gave Hiccup a shove that sent him sprawling headfirst into the snow, then ground his face in it.

"Pay attention!" hissed Snotlout. The boys and Ruffnut dragged their eyes away from Dogsbreath and Hiccup and paid attention. Astrid checked the knives in her boots, above their childish antics. "Rope yourselves together. The best climber should go first…"

"Well, that's YOU, of course, Snotlout," said Fishlegs. "You're the best at everything, aren't you?"

Snotlout looked at Fishlegs suspiciously. It was difficult to tell whether Fishlegs was laughing at him or not, because of his squint.

"That's right, Fishlegs," said Snotlout. "I AM." And, just in case he _had_ been laughing at him: "Bash him, Dogsbreath!"

While Dogsbreath pushed Fishlegs down to join Hiccup in the snow, everybody started roping themselves together.

Hiccup and Fishlegs were the last to be tied on, just behind a flushed and triumphant Dogsbreath.

"Oh, brilliant," muttered Fishlegs. "I'm about to enter a cave full of man-eating reptiles tied up to ten complete maniacs."

"If we _get_ to the cave," said Hiccup nervously, looking up at the sheer black cliff.

Hiccup put the lighted torch between his teeth to leave his hands free, and started climbing after the others.

It was a perilous climb. The rocks were slippery with snow and the other boys (and Ruffnut) were thoroughly overexcited, making the ascent far too quickly. At one point Clueless missed his footing and fell- luckily onto Dogsbreath, who caught him by the back of his trousers and heaved him back on to the rock again, before he brought the whole lot of them down.

When they finally made it to the mouth of the cave, Hiccup looked down briefly at the sea pounding the rocks way below, and swallowed very hard…

"Untie the ropes!" ordered Snotlout, his eyes popping with excitement at the thought of the dangers to come. "Hiccup goes into the cave first because HE is the son of the Chief…" He sneered. "And, if any of the dragons ARE awake, he'll be the first to know about it! Once we're in the cave, it's every man for himself. Only the strong can belong…"

Although he wasn't your usual mindless thug of a Hooligan, Hiccup wasn't a wimp, either. Being frightened is not the same thing as being a coward. Maybe he _was_ as brave as everyone else there, because he went to catch a dragon _despite_ knowing what dragons are like. And, when he had climbed perilously to the mouth of the cave and had found that inside there was a long, twisty tunnel, he _still_ went down it, despite not being too keen on long, twisty tunnels with dragons at the end of them.

He gave a quick, longing glance at the cave that was the 'left eye' of the 'skull' where the Tiny Tooths were hibernating in preparation for their growth spurt year to become Shortwings- being much smaller and with less teeth and weaponry, he might have an extra minute or two to escape if they _did_ wake up- but started down the 'right eye' tunnel.

The tunnel was dripping and clammy. At times it was high enough for the boys to walk upright. Then it would close down into narrow, claustrophobic holes that the larger boys could only just squeeze through, squirming on their stomachs, with the flares held in their mouths.

After ten long minutes of walking and crawling into the heart of the cliff, the stench of dragon- a salty stink of seaweed and old mackerel heads- got stronger and stronger, until finally it became unbearable and the tunnel opened out into an enormous cavern.

The cavern was full of more dragons than Hiccup could have ever imagined existed.

They were of every possible color and size, and they included all the species that Hiccup had heard of, and quite a few more that he hadn't.

Hiccup started sweating as he looked around him at pile after pile of the animals, draped over every available surface; even hanging upside down from the roof like giant bats. They were all fast asleep, and most of them were snoring in unison. This was a sound so loud and so deep that it seemed to penetrate right into Hiccup's body and vibrate around his soft insides, churning his stomach and bowels, and forcing his heart to beat at the same slow dragon pulse.

If one, just _one,_ of these countless creatures were to wake up, it would raise the alarm to the others and the boys would meet a horrible death. Hiccup had once seen a deer that wandered too close to Wild Dragon Cliff torn to pieces in a matter of minutes…

Hiccup closed his eyes. "I will NOT think about it," he said to himself. "I WILL NOT."

None of the others were thinking about it. Ignorance is very useful in such circumstances. Their eyes were popping with excitement as they walked through the cave, hands over their noses to keep out the revolting smell, looking for the biggest dragon they could find that would fit in their basket.

They left the torches in a pile at the entrance. The cavern was already well-lit by Glowworms- huge, sluggish animals dotted here and there that shone with a steady yet dim fluorescence, like a low-watt lightbulb. And the Flamehuffers gave off extra little bursts of light that flickered on and off as they breathed in and out.

Predictably, most of the initiates headed towards the plug-uglies of the dragon world.

Snotlout made a big fuss about grabbing a vicious-looking Monstrous Nightmare, smiling nastily at Hiccup as he did so. Snotlout was the son of Baggybum the Beerbelly, Stoick the Vast's younger brother. He was intending to get rid of Hiccup sometime in the future so that he, Snotlout, would become Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. And a gruesome and terrifying Chief, as Snotlout meant to be, would need a properly awesome dragon.

Wartihog and Dogsbreath got into a loudly whispered fight over a Gronckle, a heavily-armored brute with fangs like kitchen knives sticking out in such numbers that it couldn't keep it mouth shut. Dogsbreath won, then managed to drop it as he was trying to bundle it into his basket. The weaponry of the beast made a horribly loud clatter as it landed on the floor of the cavern.

The Gronckle opened its evil, crocodile eyes.

Everybody held their breath.

The Gronckle stared ahead. It was difficult to tell from its blank expression whether it was awake or fast asleep. Hiccup realized, in an agony of suspense, that the gossamer-thin third eyelid was still down.

And there it stayed for a few heart-stopping moments, until…

It slowly closed its upper eyelids again.

Amazingly, not one of the other dragons woke up. A few grumbled groggily before making themselves comfy again. But most were in such a stupor that they barely even stirred.

Hiccup let out his breath. Maybe these dragons were so dead to the world that _nothing_ would wake them from their slumber.

He swallowed hard, muttered a prayer to Loki, the patron saint of sneaky exploits, and edged forward cautiously to grab the most unconscious-looking dragon, so he could get out of this nightmare as fast as possible.

It is a little-known fact that dragons grow colder the deeper they sleep.

It is even possible for dragons to go into a sleep coma in which they are icy cold, with no obvious breath, pulse, or heartbeat. They can stay in this state for centuries, and only a highly skilled expert can tell from looking at them if they are alive or dead.

But a dragon who is awake or lightly sleeping is very warm indeed, like bread that has just come out of the oven.

Hiccup found one that was about the right size- a largeish Basic Brown- and fairly cool to the touch. He was about to place it in his basket when he saw, around twenty feet away, Astrid placing a Deadly Nadder in her basket, while nearby Ruffnut lowered a snoozing Hideous Zippleback into hers.

While Hiccup was not your standard young Viking thug, he did have _some_ standards. And there was no way he was going to be beaten _twice_ by _girls._

His eyes flicked to a medium-small Gronckle a few steps away. When he laid a finger on its lumpy skin, it was even cooler than the Basic Brown had been. That was all the convincing he needed, and he carefully and quickly got it into his basket. Even though it was barely half-grown, it was surprisingly heavy.

"I DID it, I DID it, I DID it!" he chanted happily to himself. At least he wasn't going to be the only one in the class who didn't have a dragon. Even better, he had a Gronckle, which was almost as good as a Monstrous Nightmare. Maybe he'd get some real respect for once, and if he failed to train this dragon, he was pretty confident he could outrun it. Things were looking up.

Everybody seemed to have gotten themselves a dragon by now and they were all making their way quietly toward the exit. Everybody, that was, except for…

Fishlegs, who was already covered in a bright red, itchy rash, and was, at that very moment approaching a pile of knottily entangled Nadders on very loud tiptoes.

Fishlegs was even worse at burglary than Dogsbreath.

Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. "Don't do it, Fishlegs- PLEASE don't do it!" he whispered.

But Fishlegs was fed up with Snotlout's taunting and of being sneered at and jeered at. He was going to get himself a really cool dragon that all the other boys- and maybe the girls- would respect.

Squinting so hard he could barely see the pile of dragons, his eyes streaming, and scratching himself violently, Fishlegs reached slowly toward the bottom-most dragon, took one leg in his hand, and gently… yanked.

The entire pile came crashing down in a furious tangle of limbs and wings and spines. Every Viking in the cavern gave a horrified gasp.

Most of the Nadders snapped crossly at each other before settling back down to sleep.

One brute bigger than the others opened his eyes and blinked a few times.

Hiccup noted, with great relief, that the third eyelid was still down.

The initiates waited for the eyes to close.

And then Fishlegs sneezed.

Four GIGANTIC sneezes that went echoing and bouncing off the cavern walls.

The big Nadder stared sightlessly ahead, frozen like a dragon statue.

But ve-ry faintly, an ominous purring noise began in his throat.

And ve-ry slowly…

… the third eyelid slid upward.

"Uh-oh," whispered Hiccup.

The Nadder's head suddenly whipped round to face Fishlegs, its yellow cat's eyes snapping into focus on the boy. It unfolded its wings to their greatest extent and stealthily advanced, like a panther about to spring. It opened its mouth wide enough to show the forked dragon tongue and…

"R-R-R-U-U-U-U-U-N-N-N!" shouted Hiccup, grabbing Fishlegs' arm and dragging him away.

The boys ran for the exit tunnel. Fishlegs and Hiccup were the last to get there.

There was no time to pick up the torches, so they were running in the pitch dark. The basket with the Gronckle in it was bumping on Hiccup's back.

They had two minutes' head start on the dragons because it took a while for the first dragon to wake everybody else up. But Hiccup could hear a furious roaring and flapping as the dragons started to pour into the tunnel after the Vikings.

He ran a little faster.

The dragons could move faster than the Vikings because they could see better in the dark, but they were held up when the tunnel got smaller, and they had to fold their wings up to squirm through.

"I… haven't… got… a… dragon," panted Fishlegs, a couple of paces behind Hiccup.

"That," said Hiccup, as he scrambled frantically on his elbows through the narrow bit, "is the LEAST… _ow_ … of our problems. They're gaining on us!"

"No… dragon," repeated Fishlegs stubbornly.

"Oh, for THOR'S SAKE," snapped Hiccup.

He thrust his basket into Fishlegs' arms and grabbed the empty one from Fishlegs' back. "Have MINE, then. Wait here."

And Hiccup turned and went back through the narrow bit even though the roaring was getting closer and louder by the second.

"WHAT… ARE… YOU… DOING?" screamed Fishlegs, frantically dancing up and down on the spot.

Hiccup came back through the hole again precious moments later. Fishlegs grabbed hold of an arm to help haul him through.

They could hear a horrible snuffling that sounded as if the nose of a dragon had entered the other end of the hole. Hiccup bunged a rock at it and it squealed indignantly.

They turned a corner and suddenly they could see light from outside at the end of the final tunnel.

Fishlegs went first, but, just as Hiccup was kneeling down to follow, a dragon pounced on him with a flap and a shriek. Hiccup hit it and it fell back enough for him to crawl toward the light. Another dragon- or maybe the same one- sank its fangs into Hiccup's calf. He was so desperate to get out he dragged the animal through with him.

As soon as Hiccup's head and shoulders were through into the light, there was Gobber. He grabbed Hiccup under the armpits and hauled him out, dragons pouring after him.

"JUMP!" yelled Gobber, as he stunned a dragon with one mighty blow of his fist.

"What do you _mean,_ JUMP?" Hiccup hesitated as he looked down at the dizzying drop into the sea.

"No time to climb down," panted Gobber, banging a couple of dragons' heads together, and bouncing three more off his gigantic belly. "JUMP!"

Hiccup closed his eyes and leaped off the cliff.

As he plunged through the air, the dragon that was attached to his leg released its jaws with a squawk of alarm and flew off.

Hiccup was traveling at such speed by the time he hit the water that it didn't feel like water at all, more like something hard and painful, and so cold that he nearly passed out.

He sputtered to the surface, amazed to find that he didn't appear to be dead, and was immediately drenched by the gigantic splash of Gobber the Belch landing a couple of feet away from him.

Shrieking furiously, the dragons swarmed out of the cave and dive-bombed the floating Vikings.

Hiccup pulled his helmet as far down as it would go. There were horrible scraping sounds as the dragons' talons raked across the metal. Another one landed, hissing, on the water right in front of Hiccup's face. It took off again with a screech when it felt how cold the sea was. The dragons didn't like flying through the snow and, with relief, Hiccup watched as they flew back to scream terrible dragon insults in Dragonese from the warmth of the cave entrance.

Gobber started to pull the boys out of the sea and onto the rocks. Young Vikings are strong swimmers, but it is difficult to keep afloat when you have a basket with a trapped, terrified dragon on your back. Hiccup was the last to be saved- just in time, as the cold was beginning to put him to sleep.

 _Well, at least that wasn't DEATH,_ thought Hiccup as Gobber grabbed him by the neck to rescue him, nearly drowning him again in the process- _but it certainly wasn't GLORY, either_

 **A/N: Thanks for reading!**

 **So, why does this Berk have raids and girls in the Dragon Initiation Program? If we ignore a few things such as differences in geography and the personalities of and existence of some characters between the bookverse and movieverse, it works out like this:**

 **Books- No Red Death, no Night Furies, -no raids. no girls in the Initiation Program.**

 **Movies- Red Death, Night Furies,- raids, girls in the Initiation Program**

 **In between verse (this story)- No Red Death, yes Night Furies - yes raids, yes girls**

 **In the books, the dragons largely ignore their kidnapped young, except in the beginning when the actual kidnapping takes place. But in this universe, a Night Fury showed up at some point and it is this dragon that convinced the others to raid and take revenge. But as the Shortwings are at the stage where they leave their mothers anyway, it is rare for an adult dragon to target a Viking for taking their offspring, unless dragon gossip spreads and the mother finds out that it is her hatchling who is under Viking control and which Viking captured it.**

 **Since the dragons raid, more warriors are needed to fight, thus girls are accepted into the Dragon Initiation Program, but it is optional.**

 **Why are raids so important in the first place? Because we can't have the feared Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself if there is no reason for Vikings to suspect or care that it exists. Part of the awesomeness and fear factor of Night Furies is their reputation, after all.**

 **Thanks! In the future the A/Ns won't be so long!**


	2. Chapter 2

The Vikings scrambled over the slimy pebbles at the edge of the beach and back up Madman's Gully, the gorge they had climbed through a couple of hours before. This was a narrow crack in the cliffs filled with large rocks. They tried to move as quickly as they could, but this is difficult when you are slipping and sliding over huge stones covered in ice, and they made painfully slow progress.

A dragon that _hadn't_ been put off by the snow came shrieking down into the gorge. He landed on Wartihog's back and started savaging him, sinking his fangs into Wartihog's shoulder and ripping red lines into his arms. Gobber bashed the dragon on the nose with the handle of his axe, and the dragon let go and flapped away.

But a whole wave of dragons replaced him, pouring into the canyon with awful, rasping cries, fire shooting from their nostrils and melting the snow before them, talons spread wickedly as they swooped downward.

Gobber stood, legs wide apart, and whirled his big, double-headed axe. He threw back his great, hairy head and yelled a terrible primeval yell, that echoed down the sides of the gorge and made the hairs on the back of Hiccup's neck stick straight up like spines on a sea urchin.

Individually, dragons tend to have a great sense of self-preservation, but they are braver when they hunt in packs. They knew now that they had the advantage of massive numbers, so they didn't check their flying for an instant. They just kept coming.

Gobber let go of the axe.

Spinning end to end, the axe soared up through the softly falling snow. It hit the biggest dragon of the lot, killing him instantly, and then kept on going, landing in a snow-drift hundreds of feet away and disappearing.

This made the rest of the dragons think a bit. Some of them scrambled over each other in their haste to fly away, yelping like dogs. The others came to a halt, hovering uncertainly, screaming defiance but keeping their distance.

"Waste of a good axe," grunted Gobber. "Keep going, boys, they could come back!"

Hiccup needed no encouragement to keep going. As soon as he got out of the gorge and onto the marshy land behind it, he broke into a stumbling run, every now and then falling flat on his face in the snow.

Some time later, when Gobber reckoned they were a safe distance from Wild Dragon Cliff, he yelled at them to stop.

Very carefully he counted heads again, to check he hadn't lost anybody. Gobber had spent an unpleasant ten minutes standing at the mouth of the cave wondering why there was such a terrible racket and what he was going to say to Stoick the Vast if he lost his precious son and heir for good.

Something Tactful and Sensitive, he supposed, but Tact and Sensitivity were not Gobber's strong points, and he took the first five minutes to come up with "Hiccup copped it. SORRY," and then spent the second five minutes tearing his beard out.

Consequently, although secretly mightily relieved, he was not in a Good Mood and, as soon as he could get his breath back, he exploded all over the place, as the initiates stood, shivering violently, in a bedraggled line.

"NEVER… in FOURTEEN YEARS… have I come across such a load of HOPELESS BARNACLES as you lot. WHICH OF YOU USELESS MOLLUSKS WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WAKING UP THE DRAGONS?"

"I was," said Hiccup. Which wasn't strictly true.

"Oh, that's BRILLIANT," bellowed Gobber, "just BRILLIANT. Our Future Leader shows off his magnificent Leadership Skills. At the tender age of ten and a half he does his best to annihilate himself and the rest of you in A SIMPLE MILITARY EXERCISE!"

Snotlout sniggered.

"You find something amusing about that, Snotlout?" asked Gobber with dangerous softness. "EVERYBODY IS ON LIMPET RATIONS FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS."

The recruits groaned.

"Smart work, Hiccup," sneered Snotlout. "I can't wait to see you in action on the battlefield."

"SILENCE!" yelled Gobber. "THIS IS YOUR INITIATION, NOT A DAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY! SILENCE, OR YOU'LL BE LUNCHING ON LUGWORMS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES!"

"Now," continued Gobber more calmly, "although that was an absolute mess, it wasn't a total disaster. I PRESUME that you do all HAVE a dragon after that fiasco…?"

"Yes," chorused the recruits.

Fishlegs took a sideways glance at Hiccup, who was staring straight ahead.

"Lucky for you," said Gobber, ominously. "So you have all passed the first part of the Dragon Test. There are, however, still two parts that you have to complete before you can become full members of the Tribe. Your next task will be to train this dragon yourself. This will be a test of the force of your personality. You will assert your will over this wild creature and show it who is Master. Your dragon will be expected to obey simple commands such as "go" and "stay," and hunt fish for you in the way that dragons have hunted for the Sons of Thor since anybody can remember. If you are worried about the training process, you should study a book called _How to Train Your Dragon_ by Professor Yobbish, which you will find in the fireplace of the Great Hall."

Suddenly Gobber looked very pleased with himself. "I stole that book from the Meathead Public Library myself," he said modestly, regarding his very black fingernails. "From right under the nose of the Hairy Scary Librarian… He never noticed a thing… Now THAT'S burglary for you…"

Wartihog put up his hand. "What happens if we can't read, sir?"

"No boasting, Wartihog!" boomed Gobber. "Get some idiot to read it for you. Your dragons will begin to go back to sleep, because this is still their hibernation time"- some of the dragons had, indeed, gone very quiet inside the baskets- "so take them home and put them in a warm place. They should wake up in the next couple of weeks. You will then only have FOUR MONTHS to prepare for Initiation Day at the Thor's-day Thursday Celebrations, and the final part of your Test. If, on that day, you can prove that you have trained your dragon to the satisfaction of myself and the other elders of the Tribe, you can finally call yourself a Hooligan of Berk."

The boys and girls stood very tall and tried to look like proper Hooligans. The girls technically didn't need to go through this initiation, but when the adult dragons had started attacking the Hooligan village fifty years before, Berk decided it needed all the Warriors it could get and allowed girls into the program.

"HEROES OR EXILE!" yelled Gobber the Belch.

"HEROES OR EXILE!" yelled nine recruits fanatically back at him.

 _Exile,_ thought Hiccup and Fishlegs sadly.

"I… hate… being… a… Viking," panted Fishlegs to Hiccup as they stumbled back through the bracken to the Hooligan village.

You didn't really _walk_ on the island of Berk, you _waded-_ through heather or bracken or mud or snow, which clung on to your legs and made them difficult to lift. It was the sort of country where the sea and the land were always falling into one another and getting mixed up. The island was shot through with holes borrowed by the water, a maze of criss-crossing underground streams. You could put your foot on a solid-looking piece of grass and find yourself disappearing up to your thigh in black, sticky mud. You could be making your way through the ferns and suddenly find yourself fording a river, waist-high and icy cold.

The boys were already soaked to the skin with seawater, and now the snow had turned into horizontal driving rain, blowing in their faces with the strength of one of the gale-force winds that were always shrieking across the salty wastelands of Berk.

"A narrow escape from horrible death first thing on Thursday morning," complained Fishlegs, "followed by complete rejection by the junior half of the Tribe… Nobody's going to talk to me for YEARS after this- except for you, of course, Hiccup, but then you're just a weirdo like me-"

"Thank you," said Hiccup.

"And on top of everything," continued Fishlegs bitterly, "a two-mile run carrying a deranged dragon on my back"- the basket on Fishlegs' back was plunging wildly from side to side as the dragon inside tried manically to get out- "And only a dinner of horrible limpets to look forward to at the end of it."

Hiccup agreed it wasn't a delicious prospect.

"You can have this dragon back if you like, Hiccup. I warn you, they're filthy heavy when they're wet and angry," said Fishlegs, miserably. "Gobber is going to go off like a typhoon when he finds out you haven't got a dragon."

"But I HAVE got one," said Hiccup.

Fishlegs stopped and began to take the basket off his back. "I know it IS yours REALLY," he sighed wearily. "I think I'll just go straight past the village and keep on running till I reach somewhere civilized. Rome perhaps. I've always wanted to go to Rome. And I haven't got a hope in Valhalla of passing Initiation anyway, so-"

"No, I've got _another_ one, in my basket," Hiccup insisted.

Fishlegs' jaw dropped open in disbelief.

"I got it when I went back into the tunnel," explained Hiccup.

"Well, blister my barnacles," said Fishlegs. "How in Thor's name did you know it was there? It was so dark you couldn't see the horns in front of you."

"It was weird," said Hiccup. "I sort of sensed it when we were running down the tunnel. I couldn't see anything, but as we were passing, I just _knew_ there was a dragon there, and that it was meant to be MY dragon. I was going to ignore it, actually, because we were in a bit of a hurry, but then you said about not having a dragon and I went back, and… there it was, lying on this shelf in the tunnel, just as I'd imagined it would be."

"Well, jigger my jellyfish," said Fishlegs, and the boys started running again.

Hiccup was bruised all over, shaking from shock, and he had a nasty dragon wound in his calf, which was stinging like crazy from the saltwater. He was freezing cold and there was an irritating bit of seaweed in one of his sandals.

He was also a bit worried because he knew he should not have risked his life trying to get a dragon for Fishlegs. This was not the act of a Viking Hero. A Viking Hero would know not to intervene between Fishlegs and his Fate.

On the other hand, Hiccup had been worrying about Dragon-catching Day for longer than he could remember. He had been sure he would be the only one to come back without a dragon, and shame, embarrassment, and awful exile would follow.

And now, here he was: a Viking warrior WITH a dragon.

So, on the whole, he was feeling fairly pleased with himself.

Things were looking up.

"You know, Hiccup," Fishlegs said a little later, as the wooden fortifications of the village appeared on the horizon, "that sounds like Fate, you sensing the dragon was there like that. This could be Meant to Be. You could have some sort of wonder - dragon in there. Something that makes a Monstrous Nightmare look like a flying frog! You are the son and heir of Chief Stoick after all, and it's about time Fate came in with a sign about your destiny."

The boys stopped, puffing with exhaustion.

"Oh, I'm sure it's just a common or Garden that wandered away from the rest," said Hiccup, trying to sound careless but unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. _He could have something marvelous in there!_

Maybe Old Wrinkly was right. Old Wrinkly was Hiccup's grandfather on his mother's side. He had taken up soothsaying in his old age and he kept on telling Hiccup how he had looked into the future and that Hiccup was destined for great things.

 _This amazing dragon could be the beginning of his transformation from ordinary old Hiccup, who wasn't particularly good at anything, into a Hero of the Future!_

Hiccup took the basket off his back and paused before opening it.

"It's very still, isn't it?" said Fishlegs, suddenly less certain of the Fate theory. "I mean, it isn't moving at all in there. Are you sure it's alive?"

"It's just very deeply asleep," said Hiccup. "It was stone cold when I picked it up."

Suddenly he had a strong feeling that the gods were on his side. He KNEW that this dragon was alive.

With trembling fingers, Hiccup undid the latch, took off the lid of the basket, and peered in. Fishlegs joined him.

Hiccup didn't know what to think.

There, curled up asleep in the bottom of the basket in a tangled dragon knot, lay a dragon Hiccup had never seen before in his life.

It was indeed extraordinary, but Hiccup wasn't sure if that was a good thing. First of all, it was extraordinarily small. Most dragons that the Vikings used for hunting purposes were Shortwings about the size of a Labrador retriever. The new Shortwings the recruits were collecting weren't quite that big, but they would grow a bit bigger over the course of six years before they hibernate again and began their next growth spurt year, became Broadwings, and rebelled against their Masters and fled or turned on them.

 _This_ dragon was only half the normal size, if that.

It was also extraordinary in that it looked _completely defenseless._ Its scales were a very nice, rather bright blue, like the deep ocean on a rare sunny day, and it had small bump-like ridges along its spine. It had wings that looked normal for its size, and two tiny fins at the end of its tail. Its head was sort of triangular and sort of semicircular, with two large eyes at the front, a wide mouth and what appeared to be ear flaps along with smaller flaps at the back of its head.

Its scaled skin was smooth, its claws were minimal, it had no spikes whatsoever or any huge teeth protruding from its mouth.

"Um… Maybe it has venomous teeth," Fishlegs suggested, also a little confused at the sight of the small and defenseless dragon.

Hiccup sighed. "Thanks, but I doubt it. Of course I would have the luck to get a dragon never seen before because it has almost gone extinct… as it is even weaker than a Common or Garden dragon."

"Don't judge it based on appearances," Fishlegs said halfheartedly. "If you want, we can trade. At least this one will probably be terrified enough to listen to me… What dragon is in my basket anyway? I'm not sure if it's fallen asleep again yet," he attempted to distract Hiccup from his discouraging dragon.

"A Gronckle. Not a very big one."

Fishlegs' eyes popped. "Really? No offense, but I thought it would be a Basic Brown or Common or Garden for sure. I feel awful, you should really take it back-"

"No, Fishlegs, you keep it. Maybe there is really more to this dragon than meets the eye," Hiccup pushed the proffered basket back to his friend. "Besides, that Gronckle could really help you get some respect. I'll just try to train this mystery dragon and I'm sure to learn something in six years. I'll get a Monstrous Nightmare then and everyone will forget about it."

"Whatever you say," Fishlegs replied dubiously. "I sure hope so. I don't want to be following Snotlout into battle. You've got more ideas about military tactics in your little finger than Snotlout does in his whole fat head…"

They picked the baskets back up and headed towards the village. Despite Hiccup's reassuring words to Fishlegs, he was still not looking forward to the immediate future. He was certainly not about to become the future star of dragon training, and this dragon would even make it hard for him to slide into his old place in the background.

But most immediately, Snotlout was sure to have some nasty things to say about it.

"HA HA HA HA!"

Snotlout was laughing so hard that he hadn't managed to say anything at all.

The recruits were hanging around the village gates, taking the opportunity to show off the dragons that they had caught. Hiccup had tried to walk through without being noticed, but Snotlout had stopped him.

"Let's see what pathetic creature Hiccup has got," said Snotlout, and took off the lid.

"Oh, this is BRILLIANT- look at it!" said Snotlout, when he finally got his breath back from laughing. "What IS it, Hiccup? A blue bunny rabbit with wings? A flower fairy? A fluffy flying frog? Gather round everybody and see the magnificent animal that Our Future Leader has caught himself!"

"We think it might be venomous," Hiccup tried.

Astrid glanced in the basket, snorted, and walked away.

"Oh, Hiccup, you are _useless_ ," Speedifist crowed. "You're the son of a CHIEF, for Thor's sake. Why didn't you get one of those Monstrous Nightmares with the six-foot wing-span and the extra-extendable claws? They're really mean killers, they are."

" _I_ have one," grinned Snotlout, gesturing to the terrifying-looking, flame red animal fast asleep in his basket. "I think I shall call her FIREWORM. What are you going to call yours, Hiccup? Sweetums? Sugarlips? Babyface?"

Hiccup's dragon took this particular moment to give a huge yawn, opening his tiny mouth wide to reveal a bumpy pink tongue, pink gums, and ABSOLUTELY NO TEETH AT ALL.

Snotlout laughed so hard, Speedifist had to hold him upright.

"TOOTHLESS!" cried Snotlout. "Hiccup has found himself the only TOOTHLESS dragon in the uncivilized world! This is too good. Hiccup the USELESS and his dragon, TOOTHLESS!"

Fishlegs leaped to Hiccup's defense.

"Well, _you_ are not allowed that Monstrous Nightmare that you've got there, Snotface Snotlout. Only the son of a Chief is allowed a Monstrous Nightmare. That Fireworm dragon is Hiccup's, by right."

Snotlout's eyes narrowed. He grabbed Fishlegs' arm and twisted it viciously behind his back.

"Nobody's listening to you, you plankton-hearted, fish-legged, disaster area," sneered Snotlout. "Thanks to you and your sniveling, sneezing disability, that whole military operation was nearly a total disaster. When I'm Chief of this Tribe the first thing I'm going to do is boot anybody with a pathetic allergy like yours straight out into exile. You're not fit to be a Hooligan!"

Fishlegs went very white in the face, but he still managed to gasp out, "But you are NOT going to be Chief of this Tribe. HICCUP is going to be Chief of this Tribe."

Snotlout dropped Fishlegs' arm and advanced menacingly on Hiccup.

"Oh, he is, is he?" jeered Snotlout. "So, I'm not allowed that Monstrous Nightmare, am I? Our Future Leader is keeping very quiet about it, isn't he? Come on, Hiccup, I'm stealing your inheritance. What are you going to do about it, then, eh?"

The boys (and Ruffnut) all looked solemn. Snotlout really had broken an ancient Viking rule.

"Hiccup should challenge you for the dragon," said Fishlegs slowly, and everybody swiveled around to look expectantly at Hiccup.

"Oh, brilliant," muttered Hiccup under his breath. "Thank you, Fishlegs. My day just gets better and better."

Snotlout was a great brute of a boy who didn't really need Dogsbreath's help when it came to bashing people up. He wore specially constructed, bronze-tipped sandals in order to cause maximum damage when kicking people. Hiccup tried to stay out of his way as much as he possibly could.

But he couldn't ignore this insult to his status, now that Fishlegs had helpfully pointed it out, without looking like a coward in front of the others. And if you became known as a coward in the Hooligan Tribe, you might as well go the whole hog and wear a pale pink jerkin, take up playing the harp, and change your name to Ermintrude.

"I challenge you, Snotface Snotlout, for the dragon, Fireworm, who is mine by right," said Hiccup, trying to hide his reluctance by speaking as loudly and formally as he could.

"I accept your challenge," said Snotlout superfast, grinning all over his horrid, smug face. "Axes or fists?"

"Fists," said Hiccup. Because axes were a REALLY bad idea.

"I shall look forward to showing you how a real Future Hero fights," said Snotlout, then he remembered something. "AFTER the Initiation thing on Thor'sday Thursday, though. I don't want to stub my toe or anything while I'm kicking you all around the village."

"Hiccup might win," Fishlegs pointed out.

"OF COURSE he won't win," boasted Snotlout. "Look at my sporting ability, my Viking courage, my capacity for mindless violence. I shall win just as surely as I shall be Chief of this Tribe one day. I mean, look at my dragon and look at HIS dragon." He pointed mockingly at Toothless. "The gods have spoken. It's only a matter of time.

"In the meantime," Snotlout carried on, "I shall live in fear of being gummed to death by Hiccup's terrifying, toothless terrapin."

And Snotlout sauntered off in a lordly fashion, giving Hiccup a nasty kick in the shins as he did so.

"Sorry about the challenge," Fishlegs apologized, after they had left the baskets with the dragons in them under their beds at their homes.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Hiccup. "Somebody would have gotten me to do it anyway. You know how they all love a fight."

Fishlegs and Hiccup were going to the Great Hall to look for the book Gobber had recommended- _How to Train Your Dragon,_ by Professor Yobbish.

"As it happens," confided Hiccup, "I know a thing or two about dragons already-well, younger dragons at least- but I haven't the foggiest clue how to start training one. Dragons hate us. I would have said they would never listen to a Viking that has captured them, but somehow, everyone here has a dragon that listens to them until they become adults. If this book is so great, I'm looking forward to getting some tips."

The Great Hall was a hullabaloo of young barbarians fighting, yelling, and playing the popular Viking game of Bashyball, which was a very violent contact sport with lots of contact and very few rules.

Hiccup and Fishlegs found the book tucked away in the fireplace, practically in the fire.

Hiccup had never noticed it before.

He opened the book.

(As this is not an actual book, I cannot provide an actual replica of _How to Train Your Dragon,_ but I shall quote the book in its entirety so you may read along with our eager hero. You will have to imagine that the cover is unusually thick, with huge golden clasps, and that some scribe has covered it in elaborately fancy gilt lettering. It looks very inviting indeed.)

CHAPTER THE FIRST

(AND LAST)

The Golden Rule of Dragon-Training is to…

 **YELL AT IT!**

 _(The louder the better.)_

THE END.

"THAT'S IT?!" said Hiccup furiously, turning the book upside down and shaking it, trying to see whether there was anything other than that single page of paper inside it.

Hiccup put the book down. His face was unusually grim.

"Okay, Fishlegs," he said, "Unless you're any better at yelling than I am, we're on our own. We're going to have to work out our _own_ method of dragon training."

The next morning, Hiccup checked the dragon under his bed. It was still asleep.

When his mother, Valhallarama, asked him at breakfast, "How did Initiation go yesterday, dear?" Hiccup said, "Oh, it was fine. I caught my dragon."

"That's nice, dear," Valhallarama replied vaguely, apparently lost in thought. Hiccup thought about asking her for advice at some point if he couldn't work out how to train his dragon himself. She didn't yell very loudly and wasn't much of a warrior that Hiccup had seen, yet her dragon, Cloudjumper, obeyed her like a puppy dog.

Stoick the Vast looked up briefly from his bowl and boomed, "EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT," before getting back to the important task of shoveling food into his mouth.

After breakfast, Hiccup went to sit on the front step beside his grandfather, who was smoking a pipe. It was a beautiful, cold, clear winter's morning, with not a breath of wind and the sea all around as flat as glass.

Old Wrinkly blew out smoke rings contentedly as he watched the sun coming up. Hiccup shivered and chucked stones into the bracken. Neither of them spoke for a long time.

At last Hiccup said, "I got that dragon."

"I said you would, didn't I?" replied Old Wrinkly, very pleased with himself. Old Wrinkly had taken up soothsaying in his old age, mostly unsuccessfully. Looking into the future was a complicated business. So he was particularly pleased that he'd gotten this right.

"Something extraordinary, you said," complained Hiccup. "A truly _unusual_ dragon, you said. An animal that would really make me stand out in the crowd."

"Absolutely," agreed Old Wrinkly. "The entrails were undeniable."

"The _only_ extraordinary thing about this dragon," continued Hiccup, "is how _extraordinarily_ SMALL and DEFENSELESS it is. In that it _is_ super-unusual. I'm more of a laughingstock than ever."

"Oh, dear," said Old Wrinkly, chuckling in a wheezy way over his pipe.

Hiccup looked at him reproachfully. Old Wrinkly hurriedly turned the laugh into a cough.

"Size and ferocity are all relative, Hiccup," said Old Wrinkly. "ALL of these dragons Report super-small and weak compared to a real Sea Dragon. A REAL Sea Dragon is fifty _times_ as big as that little creature. A real Sea Dragon from the bottom of the ocean can swallow ten large Viking ships in one gulp and not even notice. A real Sea Dragon is a cruel, careless mystery like the mighty ocean itself, one moment calm as a scallop, the next raging like an octopus."

"Well, here on Berk," said Hiccup, "where we haven't any Sea Dragons to compare anything with, my dragon is just considerably lesser than everybody else's. You are getting off the point."

"Am I?" asked Old Wrinkly.

"The point is, I just don't see how I am ever going to become a Hero," said Hiccup gloomily. "I am the least Heroic boy in the whole Hooligan Tribe."

"Oh _pshaw,_ this ridiculous Tribe," fumed Old Wrinkly. "Okay, so you are not what we call a born hero. You're not big and tough and charismatic like Snotlout. But you're just going to have to work at it. You're going to have to learn how to be a Hero the Hard Way.

"Anyway," said Old Wrinkly, "It might just be what this Tribe needs, a change in leadership style. Because the thing is, times are changing. We can't get away with being bigger and more violent than everybody else any more. IMAGINATION. That's what they need and what you've got. A Hero of the Future is going to have to be clever and cunning, not just a big lump with overdeveloped muscles. He's going to have to stop everyone quarreling amongst themselves and get them to face the enemy together."

"How am I going to persuade anybody to do anything?" asked Hiccup. "They've started calling me HICCUP THE USELESS. That is not a great name for a Military Leader."

"You have to see the bigger picture, Hiccup," continued Old Wrinkly, ignoring him. "You're called a few names. You're not a natural at Bashyball. Who cares? These are very little problems in the grand scheme of things."

"It's all very well for you to say they are little problems," said Hiccup crossly, "but I have a LOT of little problems. I have to train this small and weak dragon in time for Thor'sday Thursday or I'll be thrown out of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe forever."

"Ah, yes," said Old Wrinkly, thoughtfully. "There's a book on this subject, isn't there? Remind me, how does the great Professor of Meathead University think you should train a dragon?"

"He thinks you should yell at it," said Hiccup, gloomily chucking stones again. "Show the beast who is Master by sheer charismatic force of your personality, that sort of thing. I have about as much charisma as a stranded jellyfish and yelling is just another thing I'm useless at."

"Ye-e-es," said Old Wrinkly, "but maybe you'll have to train your dragon the Hard Way. You know a very great deal about dragons, don't you, Hiccup? All that dragon-watching you've been doing over the years?"

"That's a secret, said Hiccup, uncomfortably.

"I've seen you talking to them," said Old Wrinkly.

"That's NOT TRUE," protested Hiccup, going bright red in the face.

"Okay, then," soothed Old Wrinkly, calmly smoking his pipe, "it's not true."

There was silence for a bit.

"It _is_ true," Hiccup admitted, "but for Thor's sake don't tell anybody, they wouldn't understand."

"Talking to dragons is a highly unusual skill," said Old Wrinkly. "Maybe," he said, "you can train a dragon better by talking to it than yelling at it."

"That's sweet," said Hiccup, "and a very touching thought. However, a dragon is not a mindless fluffy creature like a dog or a cat or a pony. They hate us for capturing and practically enslaving them. Why do you think the adults raid us on a monthly basis? The only reason our dragons stay with us and don't escape during raids is we lock them up or they respect their Masters too much to flee. With their claws, teeth, scales, and wings, they see themselves as superior. From what I know about dragons," said Hiccup, "I should say that yelling to show you are Master and should be respected and obeyed is a pretty good method."

"But it has its limitations, doesn't it?" Old Wrinkly pointed out. "I would say that yelling was highly effective on any dragon smaller than a sea lion. And positively suicidal if you try it on a strange dragon anything larger. Why don't you come up with some alternative training schemes yourself? Something that might last into the dragon's adulthood more than two percent of the time? You might be able to add something to Professor Yobbish's book. I've often thought that book needs a little something extra… I can't quite put my finger on it…"

"WORDS," said Hiccup. "That book needs a lot more words."

Meanwhile, deep in the ocean, but not so very far from the Isle of Berk, a real Sea Dragon such as Old Wrinkly had been describing lay sleeping on the sea-bed. He was indescribably large. He had been there for so long that he almost seemed to be part of the ocean floor itself, a great underwater mountain, covered in shells and barnacles, some of his limbs half-buried in the sand. Generation after generation of little hermit crabs had been born and died in this Dragon's ears. Hundreds and hundreds of years he'd slept, because he'd had a rather large meal. He'd had the luck to catch a Roman Legion camping on a clifftop- they were completely cut off and he had spent an enjoyable afternoon wolfing down the whole lot of them, from commanding officer to lowliest private. Horses, chariots, shields, and spears, the entire lot went down into the ravenous, reptilian gullet. And, while things such as golden chariot wheels are an additional source of fiber to a dragon's diet, they do take some time to digest.

The Dragon had crawled down into the depths of the ocean and gone into a Sleep Coma. Dragons can stay in this suspended state for eternity, half-dead, half-alive, buried under fathom after fathom of icy-cold seawater. Not a muscle of this particular Dragon had moved for six or seven centuries.

But the previous week, a killer whale who had chased some seals unexpectedly deep was surprised to notice a slight movement in the upper eyelid of the dragon's right eye. An ancestral memory stirred in the whale's brain and he swam away from there as fast as his fins could carry him. And, a week later, the sea around the Dragon Mountain- which had previously been teeming with crabs and lobsters and shoals and shoals of fish- was a great, underwater desert. Not a mollusk stirred, not a scallop shimmied.

The only sign of life for miles and miles was the rapid jerking of both the dragon's eyelids, fluttering up and down as if the Dragon had suddenly gone into a lighter sleep and was dreaming who knows what dark dreams.

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing, favoriting, following, etc.**

 **Yes, I gave Fishlegs Meatlug, because while Horrorcow is a nice dragon, in the first book at least her only real perk is being bigger than and more obedient than Toothless. As Hiccup has a Night Fury here, I didn't want Fishlegs stuck with what Snotlout and co. would see as the 'worst dragon' once Toothless' awesomeness is realized.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Toothless woke up about three weeks later. Fishlegs and Hiccup were at Hiccup's house. Everybody else was out directing and helping cleanup after the previous night's dragon raid. Stoick had gone out to fight, while Valhallarama and Old Wrinkly stayed in the house and kept an extra eye on the dragons still there. Hiccup had stayed with them and prayed the house wouldn't catch on fire. The raid had been a particularly loud and violent one, being the first raid after the Initiates' dragons had been caught. Hiccup had heard roars, growls, and shrieks, but luckily not the telltale scream of the Night Fury, the mysterious dragon which caused the bravest Viking Warriors to flee and hide under cover.**

 **Fishlegs had also stayed home, but his Gronckle, named Meatlug, had woken up a couple of days previously, and so he had gotten her back in the basket and held it closed while the raid was going on so she wouldn't try to escape. He hadn't yelled at her enough for the dragon to respect him as Master yet, but at least the young Gronckle hadn't tried to attack him at any point.**

 **But Meatlug was asleep now, and everyone else was out of the house, so Hiccup decided to take the opportunity to check on Toothless' basket. He pulled it out from under the bed. A thin plume of bluish gray smoke was drifting out from under the lid.**

 **Fishlegs whistled. "He's awake all right," said Fishlegs. "Here we go."**

 **Hiccup opened the basket.**

 **The smoke billowed out and made the boys cough. Hiccup fanned it away. When the smoke cleared, Hiccup could make out the blue dragon looking up at him with big green eyes, pupils narrowed into near slits in fear.**

 ***Vikings. Go away,* it whimpered in Dragonese.**

 ***Hello, Toothless,* Hiccup tried, in what he hoped was a good accent in Dragonese, determined to get off to as good a start as he could.**

 **"** **What are you doing?" asked Fishlegs curiously. Dragonese is punctuated by shrill shrieks, popping noises, growls, chirps, and purrs, and sounds MOST extraordinary when spoken by a human.**

 **"** **Just talking to it," mumbled Hiccup, very embarrassed.**

 **"** **Just** ** _talking_** **to it?" gasped Fishlegs in astonishment. "What do you** ** _mean,_** **you're talking to it? You can't talk to it, it's an ANIMAL, for Thor's sake!"**

 **"** **Oh, shut up, Fishlegs," said Hiccup impatiently. "You're frightening it."**

 **The dragon, however, did not seem frightened anymore and stood up a little taller in the basket, now annoyed. *I am not a common animal!* it snorted.**

 ***I know, and we're very sorry,* Hiccup placated. *Would you please come out a little?***

 **The dragon hesitated for a moment before slowly stepping out on its four paws. He glanced around the room, taking in its surroundings for a few seconds before fixing his eyes on Hiccup. Toothless was sleek and built a bit like a cat aside from his dragonish features, and when he stood tall and Hiccup knelt, their eyes were level. The dragon stared into Hiccup's eyes, his pupils widening quite a bit. Hiccup blinked a lot, as the dragon's gaze seemed almost hypnotic, and after a minute it stepped back, leaving Hiccup wondering if he had passed or failed some sort of test.**

 ***You are much smaller and less fierce and scary than I thought you would be… am I growing already?* Toothless suddenly turned and looked at himself, stretching his neck to peer at his back, wings, and tail, before fixing his gaze on Hiccup again. Hiccup was confused by the question and action, but the dragon spoke again. *I didn't know any Vikings could speak Dragonese.***

 ***Well, I figured out how, but it's kinda a secret,* Hiccup admitted. He thought things were going pretty well so far- he was holding a civilized conversation with his dragon.**

 ***Why?* Toothless cocked his head to the side, pupils wide again, and Hiccup was taken aback for a moment by how disturbingly adorable it was.**

 ***Um, because around here, Vikings are tough and big and strong, and yell at dragons to obey and submit, and so actually talking to them is just not done. But as you can see, I'm not exactly big and strong.***

 **"** **I can't believe I'm asking this, but what are you both saying?" Fishlegs interrupted. Hiccup repeated the conversation so far, and Fishlegs gave him a look.**

 **"** **You realize that unless you suddenly get really good at yelling, your chances of getting it to submit through force are zero now that you've admitted your weakness to it?" Fishlegs said.**

 **Hiccup frowned at looked at Toothless, who smiled an innocent gummy smile.**

 ***Okay, I've never seen a dragon smile before,* Hiccup said, confused and a little embarrassed, both curious and attempting to change the subject.**

 **The dragon shrugged its wings. *My mother smiles. I haven't seen other dragons do it. But I won't be here much longer. She will come find me when I don't meet her outside the hibernation caves.* The dragon considered them for another moment. *You seem nice for Vikings, so I'll warn you when she comes. Maybe you can escape before she kills you.***

 **Hiccup went pale, and Fishlegs asked what was wrong. Hiccup repeated everything, and while his friend went pale, Hiccup questioned the dragon. *B-but I thought Shortwing dragons lived independent of their mothers. That's why we've never had attacking Broadwings specifically out to free any of you.***

 **Toothless** ** _laughed._** **It was a curious sound, high pitched like his voice, sounding a bit like a giggle, warbling and a bit growly. *I'm not a Shortwing yet! This is my growth spurt year!* He stuck out his chest proudly. *Can't you tell? My wings and tail fins are still small, and so am I. But by the end of the year I'll be big and strong!***

 **"** **Oh babbling barnacles," Hiccup groaned. On the upside, this dragon would get bigger and be closer to normal size by the time Thor'sday Thursday rolled around, but now he had an angry mother dragon after him, and in the meantime a growing dragon that would have a humongous appetite. Hopefully the mother would be as toothless and unthreatening as this dragon. *No, I can't tell, actually. You were in the wrong cave, and I've never seen a dragon like you before. Your wings look normal Shortwing sized to me.***

 ***My tail will get longer, and I will get bigger, but my wings will be longer than both!* Toothless said proudly. *I will be like my mother, the ruler of the skies!***

 **"** **Better and better," Hiccup muttered, only partly sarcastic. It was good for him when the Test happened, bad when the 'ruler of the skies' tracked him down, especially if she actually had that status and he had stolen her son. Hiccup didn't know much about dragon politics.**

 ***I'm hungry. I want fish.* Toothless announced.**

 ***We don't have any fish,* Hiccup apologized.**

 ***Cat,* Toothless decided, lifting his wings to chase after Fiddlesticks, who yowled and scampered up into the rafters.**

 ***You can't eat the cat, I like him!* Hiccup protested, and Toothless pouted and turned back around, eyes big and sad.**

 ***Uh… If I find you some fish later, are you okay with eating mice for now?* Stoick's bedroom had a mouse problem, and Hiccup was feeling like a terrible person looking at Toothless' sad green eyes, which was probably NOT how training the dragon was supposed to go.**

 **Toothless perked up his ear flaps and gave another gummy smile, before darting through the door Hiccup opened.**

 **"** **The dragon doesn't** ** _need_** **weapons and defenses," Hiccup moaned to Fishlegs as Toothless happily stalked mice and pounced on them, snapping them up. "Nobody that looks at him would dare to hurt him."**

 **"** **This is the first dragon I've seen that protects itself with cuteness instead of fear," Fishlegs agreed, also confused. "Maybe it's because he's a baby and they grow out of it? His mother does sound scary from what you've told me."**

 **The boys looked at the dragon, who had his back to them, and pounced on a mouse before tossing it into the air and catching it in his jaws, wriggling his tail back and forth cheerfully.**

 **"** **What is going on in here?" boomed Stoick the Vast, entering the room. Hiccup and Fishlegs jumped, and Toothless spun around, then flapped from the floor to perch at the foot of the bed on one of the bedposts, extending his wings for balance as he couldn't quite fit all four feet on the post. He and Stoick eyed each other as Newtsbreath and Hookfang, Stoick's hunting dragons, padded into the room. Toothless' gaze switched to them as they sat at the foot of the post, yellow eyes glinting. They were each Monstrous Nightmares the size of a leopard, with only a couple of years until their next growth spurt and adulthood, and they were as delighted by Toothless' arrival as a couple of giant cats might be by that of a cute little kitten.**

 ***Greetings, fellow firebreather,* hissed Newtsbreath as he lifted his head and gave the newcomer a sniff.**

 ***We must wait,* purred Hookfang menacingly, *until we are alone and then we can give you a proper welcome.* He gave a vicious swipe at Toothless with one paw. A claw like a kitchen knife nicked Toothless on the shoulder, and the smaller dragon yelped and hopped onto Hiccup's shoulder, growling deep in his throat down at the Nightmares. Given the fact that it was still a fairly high-pitched growl, it wasn't terribly intimidating.**

 **"** **HOOKFANG!" bellowed Stoick.**

 ***My claw slipped,* whined Hookfang.**

 **"** **GEDDOUTOFHEREBEFOREIMAKEYOUINTOHANDBAGS!" yelled Stoick, and Newtsbreath and Hookfang slunk out, muttering obscene dragon curses under their breaths.**

 **Hiccup was a little surprised that Toothless had jumped onto his shoulder instead of flying somewhere else in the room. He hadn't actually touched the dragon besides in the cave. Did Toothless feel safe with him or was Hiccup just the most conveniently located familiar object or person in the room?**

 **"** **You see?" said Stoick. "** ** _That's_** **how to deal with dragons." Stoick then looked at Toothless with uncharacteristic anxiety.**

 **"** **Son," said Stoick, hoping there might be some sort of mistake, "Is this dragon** ** _your_** **dragon?"**

 **"** **Yes, father," Hiccup admitted.**

 **"** **It's very… well… it's very… SMALL and DEFENSELESS, isn't it?" said Stoick slowly.**

 **Stoick was not an observant person but even** ** _he_** **could not fail to notice how unusual this dragon was.**

 **"** **. . . and it hasn't got any teeth."**

 **There was an awkward silence.**

 **Fishlegs came to Hiccup's rescue.**

 **"** **It's a newly discovered breed," said Fishlegs. "A dragon never trained by Viking before. It's called the Toothless Daydream…" Fishlegs must have realized it was a very un-Vikinglike name so he quickly continued, "but that name will likely change, because a dragon that has evaded Vikings for so long must be so rare, so elusive, so stealthy, and so vicious, that we cannot give it justice yet until we learn more about it. This dragon might be greater than the Monstrous Nightmare itself!"**

 **"** **By Thor, you're right!" said Stoick.**

 **"** **And not only that," Fishlegs added, "but Hiccup and I have deduced that this dragon is not yet a Shortwing, but a Tiny Tooth that got lost, and as this is his growth spurt year, it will grow much bigger, and if you see how long its wings are already, they will TRIPLE in length. Why, this dragon will be the Ruler of the Skies within a year."**

 **"** **No!" said Stoick, very impressed. He chuckled and ruffled Hiccup's hair. "Good for you, son, you and your dragon'll impress us all someday."**

 **Stoick's tummy gave out a plaintive rumble like a distant underground explosion. "Time for a little supper, I think."**

 **Stoick strode off, relieved to have had his faith in his son restored.**

 **"** **Thanks, Fishlegs," said Hiccup. "You were inspired."**

 **"** **Not at all," said Fishlegs. "I owed you one after setting you up for that fight with Snotlout."**

 **"** **Father's going to find out at some point anyway, though," said Hiccup gloomily.**

 **"** **Not necessarily. It could be true. And look at all that talking you were doing with the Toothless Daydream here. That was INCREDIBLE. UNBELIEVABLE. I've never seen anything like it. You'll be training him in next to no time."**

 **"** **I was talking to him alright, but I guess we'll see if I train him or he trains me… as long as his mother doesn't hunt me down first."**

 **When he was going to bed that night, Hiccup didn't want to leave Toothless in front of the fire with Newtsbreath and Hookfang.**

 **"** **Can I take him to bed with me?" He asked Stoick.**

 **"** **A dragon is a working animal," said Stoick the Vast. "Too much hugging and kissing will make him lose his vicious streak."**

 **Toothless snorted.**

 **"** **But Newtsbreath will kill him if I leave him alone with them."**

 **Newtsbreath gave an appreciative growl. *It would be my pleasure,* he hissed.**

 **"** **Nonsense," boomed Stoick, unaware of Newtsbreath's last remark, ad he didn't speak Dragonese. He gave Newtsbreath a friendly cuff round the horns. "Newtsbreath just wants to play. That sort of rough-and-tumble is good for a young dragon. Makes him learn to stick up for himself."**

 **Hookfang extended his claws like switchblades and drummed them on the hearth.**

 ***I'm almost a Shortwing. I'll be fine,* Toothless said. Hiccup was still a bit uncertain, but went to bed.**

 **Hiccup slept lightly and woke up early, worried about his dragon left with the bigger Nightmares. He certainly wouldn't want to spend the night with them in the same room.**

 **He crept down the stairs the next morning, worried about what he would find. At first he saw only Newtsbreath and Hookfang asleep around the central fireplace, and his heart stopped for a moment, before a small shadow glided down from the a rafter above the firepit and landed on the floor, giving a big, toothless yawn.**

 **Hiccup let out a sigh of relief and had opened his mouth to greet his dragon when he heard footsteps approach the front door, and he quickly switched to Norse. "Good morning, Toothless… morning, Mom."**

 **Valhallarama smiled in return as she came in. She was up early nearly every morning, usually gathering herbs and berries, and sometimes fishing. Hiccup noticed she was bundled up, and her hair was a little windswept. But it was quiet at the moment, the wind seemed to have died down.**

 **Newtsbreath and Hookfang woke up and slunk over to her, growling hopefully. *Fish? Do you have fish?***

 **Valhallarama chuckled, unafraid of the two Nightmares, and tossed them each a small fish. Toothless crooned hopefully when he saw the fish, and Hiccup's mother offered him a larger fish. Toothless eyed her for a moment before snatching away the fish.**

 **The Nightmares growled and crept towards the smaller dragon and his prize.**

 **"** **No," Valhallarama said sharply, and they backed off.**

 **It wasn't like he hadn't seen it before, but Hiccup was still impressed. His mother could get most dragons to obey with a single word, yet she hardly ever yelled, just spoke with a firm tone.**

 **"** **He's a growing dragon. Leave him be," she admonished, then pulled off her thick outer coat and started cooking breakfast.**

 **Stoick must have told her it was Toothless' growth spurt year. Hiccup just hoped that his dragon grew enough to let him go back to his usual level of shame instead of total humiliation.**

 **Hiccup opened the door and called for Toothless. The dragon either decided to obey or decided he wanted to go outside anyway, so he followed. Hiccup brushed a layer of snow off a nearby rock and sat down while Toothless jumped around in the snow.**

 **Hiccup looked to make sure nobody else was around before he spoke. *Were you alright with Newtsbreath and Hookfang?***

 **Toothless paused and looked up at him. *They chased me for a bit, but I ignored them and they gave up.***

 ***Oh.* Hiccup watched Toothless hunt for voles for a few minutes. *When you're done eating, I should probably start training you.***

 ***Why?* Toothless asked.**

 ***I know, you said your mother would come for you… But I might as well try.***

 ***Why do you have to train me?* Toothless asked again.**

 ***If I don't, I'll be thrown out of the tribe and sent into exile,* Hiccup answered.**

 ***Why?***

 ***It's a rite of passage.***

 ***Why?***

 **Hiccup gave Toothless a look, but the dragon just gazed innocently back.**

 ***I don't know, it's just been that way as long as anyone can remember. To prove our toughness as Vikings, to be able to dominate the fiercest creatures on Earth.***

 **Boy and dragon looked at each other for a minute, thinking.**

 ***If it were up to me, I would let you go back to your mother,* admitted Hiccup after a minute. *I don't really see the point of the whole thing, I just want to live my life, I don't want to try and fail to prove how Vikinglike I am.* He sighed. *I have to, though. I'm the son of the Chief, so I'll be Chief one day, as long as I don't die first.***

 ***Why would you die?***

 ***Well, I sure** ** _hope_** **I won't, but my cousin is determined to be Chief. His goal in life is to humiliate me and make my life miserable, I think.***

 ***A bully like Newtsbreath and Hookfang,* Toothless decided. *I think they're unhappy because they are bullied too.***

 **Hiccup blinked. He had never thought about it that way before. *I think you might be right, but I don't think anyone bullies my cousin. He's too big and strong.***

 ***He's challenging you. Don't let him beat you,* Toothless advised, nosing in the snow for another vole.**

 ***Again, he's popular, big and strong, a couple years older than me… How do you know so much, anyway?***

 ***My mother. She is a wise dragon, she knows everything about dragons and humans.* Toothless growled happily as he found his vole.**

 ***Humans?* asked Hiccup, confused.**

 ***Yes.***

 ***I mean, how does she know about humans?***

 **Toothless shrugged his wings. *I don't know. I don't think she likes to talk about it. She likes humans, but not Vikings very much.***

 ***Your mother knows non-Viking people?***

 ***I don't know. Maybe she just doesn't like big scary Vikings who hurt dragons,* Toothless reasoned.**

 **Hiccup was amazed. A dragon that liked humans, or at least kind Vikings? No wonder he had never seen Toothless' kind in raids. *Do you think… she would like ME?***

 **Toothless cocked his head to the side in thought, ear flaps pricked. *I think she would. Maybe if you apologize, she'll let you go without you running and hiding.***

 **Hiccup was glad to hear that. If the mother Toothless Daydream was like her son, he wouldn't be too worried. While Toothless didn't seem to be attached to Hiccup in any way, he was friendly, and good company to have, if a bit amused by Hiccup's attempts to train him.**

 **Hiccup sighed, coming to a decision. *Okay, Toothless. I'll take you back to Wild Dragon Cliff to find your mother… But if I can't find another dragon to train, would you mind coming by once in a while and on Thor'sday Thursday, so I can at least be accepted into the tribe? After that, when next winter comes around, I'll find a new Shortwing to train for real.***

 **Toothless laughed, but this time it was fuller and sounded less like a nervous giggle. *I'LL be a new Shortwing when next winter comes around.***

 ***Do you think you could come back and stay with me, then?* Hiccup asked hopefully. He didn't really want to have to capture another dragon and figure out how to train it. Once in his lifetime was enough.**

 ***I'll think about it,* Toothless said, but Hiccup got the feeling the dragon was just being nice and had no intention of being tied down to him for the next six years after winter.**

 ***But,* the Toothless Daydream continued, *If you live until this Thor'sday Thursday, and if my mother says it's alright, I think I can help you then.***

 ***Thank you,* Hiccup said, relieved. At least there was a small chance he wouldn't be dragonless before the month was out.**

 ***You will need to give me lots of fish,* Toothless said, widening his pupils innocently.**

 **Hiccup laughed and shook his head, and they went back in when Valhallarama called to say breakfast was ready.**

 **Hiccup ate quickly while the dragons in the house prowled around the table, hoping for scraps. Stoick was confused as to why Valhallarama fed Toothless so much, until she reminded him that the more the dragon ate, the bigger he would grow by Thor'sday Thursday. Stoick gave a booming laugh and Hiccup watched, wide-eyed, as Stoick gave up a piece of meat himself to Toothless' pleading eyes. Old Wrinkly, too, fed Toothless, though he seemed rather amused by the whole thing.**

 ***You have even the Chief wrapped around your claw!* Hiccup exclaimed later when they were on their way to Wild Dragon Cliff, having of course told his family he was going out to train Toothless.**

 **The dragon grinned toothlessly up at him as he hopped through the snow. As they walked, his legs eventually got tired and he flew in lazy circles around Hiccup.**

 ***So, the place will likely be full of mother dragons looking for their hatchlings?* Hiccup checked, and Toothless nodded. *Okay, so how exactly do I keep myself from being torn to shreds? I'm reasonably confident that they won't allow a Viking anywhere near their hatchlings.***

 **Toothless hummed for a moment in thought. *I'll sit on you,* he decided. *It will make it obvious that you aren't in charge of me, or at least confuse the others enough to give me time to explain.***

 ***SIT on me?* cried Hiccup. *Well, if you think it'll keep me alive, I'll do it.***

 **As they turned a corner in the sort-of path, Wild Dragon Cliff came into sight. Thousands of dragons swarmed the cliff, roaring and screeching and making a terrible racket. The nearby dragons- adults such as Hiccup had only ever before seen in raids- turned a suspicious eye on the newcomers.**

 ***Crawl on your hands and knees, and I will ride on your back,* Toothless said. Hiccup gave him an incredulous look, but agreed it would probably keep the others from attacking and did so. He crawled forward through the snow as Toothless gave a quick explanation to any curious dragon. The dragons mostly left, confused, but a few laughed at him and praised Toothless.**

 ***Hopefully they figure out who I am at some point, because I am NOT doing this every time we come here,* Hiccup grumbled as his fingers started to go numb through the mittens he was wearing.**

 ***Stop,* Toothless said a few seconds later. *You can get up now.***

 **Hiccup sat up straight once the small dragon had jumped off his back. Most of the dragons were now ignoring them or eyeing them curiously. After all, Hiccup was rather scrawny and unvikinglike, so if there was a problem one of the dragons they had had to go through to get there would have taken care of it.**

 **Fortunately, the area had become more rocky and less snow-covered as the fire of dragons tended to melt snow and burn away heather and bracken, so while it wasn't exactly comfortable, Hiccup wasn't soaking in melting snow. Toothless also hadn't yet demanded that he lay down and let the dragon sit on him, so while Hiccup sat on a rock, the dragon sat next to him, tail curled around his legs.**

 **But not too much longer, a Nadder landed in front of them, her head higher than Hiccup's front door, growling menacingly as her three young hatchlings fluttered a few feet behind her. *What is the meaning of this?* she hissed to Toothless. *How is this Viking here? Has he enslaved you? Where is your mother?* Hiccup flinched as she raised her tail covered in poisonous spikes.**

 ***He won't hurt anyone,* Toothless assured her. *I fell asleep in the wrong cave, and he captured me. But I demanded he take me back here to find my mother.***

 ***And he listened?* the Nadder mother asked skeptically.**

 ***He speaks Dragonese.* Toothless said proudly.**

 ***Hello,* Hiccup said meekly. *Your hatchlings are beautiful.***

 ***We're in our growing year!* a yellow hatchling said excitedly.**

 ***Me too,* Toothless replied, obviously pleased to see someone his age.**

 **The young Nadder landed and stepped towards the two of them, ignoring the warning growl from his mother. *How did you teach him Dragonese? Can he do tricks?***

 ***Hey, I learned Dragonese on my own, before I met him,* Hiccup interrupted. *And I don't really do tricks.***

 ***We're working on it,* Toothless confided in the Nadder, and the two laughed at Hiccup's spluttering protests.**

 **The Nadder mother relaxed a little as she saw that Hiccup wasn't about to hurt Toothless or her hatchlings. *Young one, what does your mother look like?***

 ***Like me, but bigger and black instead of blue. And female.***

 ***Black?* Hiccup questioned. *Will you turn black too?***

 **Toothless nodded. *Mother says I will as I get older, and the faster I fly… or maybe it was the higher I fly…***

 ***I will let you know if I see your mother, young one,* the female Nadder said. *Come along, Sunspike. It's time for your first fishing lesson.***

 **The young Nadder chirped a cheerful goodbye before joining his siblings in following his mother.**

 ***** ** _First_** **fishing lesson?* Hiccup wondered.**

 **Toothless nodded. *Our mothers teach us things like that during our growing year.***

 ***You mean you don't know how to FISH?* Hiccup cried, alarmed. He was suddenly hoping that Toothless' mother showed up soon. He couldn't imagine facing Thor'sday Thursday with a dragon that didn't know how to fish!**

 ***I tried a few times on my own, a long time ago, but it didn't work very well,* Toothless confessed.**

 **Hiccup sighed and laid back against the rock. The dragon cheerfully curled up on top of his stomach. Hiccup found it surprisingly pleasant- as I mentioned before, an awake or lightly sleeping dragon is very warm indeed, and so Hiccup was soon warm all over, a feeling he hadn't had since midsummer.**

 **Toothless soon fell asleep and so they stayed that way for a few hours until Toothless got hungry and took Hiccup vole-hunting again. They repeated the process of hunting and waiting a few times, talking to various wild dragons and each other, until it began to grow dark and they returned to the village. They both waited hungrily for dinner- Toothless because he was a growing dragon, and Hiccup because he had missed lunch.**

 **Then they separated again, Hiccup going to bed, and Toothless perching on the rafter above the fire.**

 **A/N: Wow, I'm surprised by the response that this story is getting. It might even be more popular than my movie-verse story! Thank you all for reading, and for reviewing, favoriting, following, etc. Be sure to leave a review if you have questions, comments, suggestions, a favorite flavor of jellybean, etc**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who let me know this chapter was all jumbled... If you can read this, I fixed it :)**

Hiccup and Toothless returned again to the cliff the next day. Fortunately, a few of the dragons they had spoken to the day before were terrible gossips, and so word had spread enough through the massive flock of dragons that when Hiccup and Toothless approached the cliff, there was more curiosity than hostility, and Hiccup did not need to crawl on his hands and knees again. They waited in the same spot they had the day before and were approached by more curious dragons.

After an hour or so, they were joined by a familiar family of Nadders. The orange mother still seemed a little wary of Hiccup, but Sunspike and his two siblings eagerly hopped up.

*Have you taught him a trick yet?* Sunspike wondered. Hiccup groaned and Toothless laughed.

*I'm not sure what sort of trick I would be able to do, Sunspike.* Hiccup said. There was no way he was going to roll over or play dead. *Why don't you show Toothless a trick?* he suggested.

*Toothless? Is that your name?*

*Yep.*

*Why would you have a name like that?* Sunspike's yellow-green sister asked.

*Come, I'll show you a trick,* Toothless replied, and before Hiccup could protest, the four young dragons zipped off down the cliff.

*Um… If any dragons come here wanting to kill me for being a Viking, would you please back me up?* Hiccup asked the mother Nadder hesitantly.

She eyed him. *Perhaps. Do you have a name?*

*Yes, I'm Hiccup.*

*I can see that.*

*Hey! If I were bigger, I probably wouldn't have gotten this far without being attacked anyway.*

*True.* She eyed him for another minute. *I am Honeyclaw.*

*Nice to meet you,* Hiccup said.

*You are a strange Viking,* she replied.

Hiccup looked out over the cliff to see where his dragon went. It occurred to him that Toothless could have just flown off. Hiccup had returned him to his home, after all. Toothless didn't need to wait for a raid to try to escape, Hiccup had brought him right to the wild dragons! If he found his mother out there, he need never mention Hiccup!

Hiccup felt like kicking himself. He could only hope that Toothless hadn't come to the same realization, but the little dragon was smart. His fears lessened a little when Toothless returned a moment later to circle around his head, chased by the three Nadders and a couple of young Monstrous Nightmares.

*So, where do you all go when you're not at this cliff?* Hiccup asked Honeyclaw, partly to make conversation, and because he was curious. He had only ever seen Shortwings around the cliff except around hibernation time for those that were going into or coming out of growing years.

*This place is too small for all the local dragons to live, there would be terrible territory disputes and not enough hunting. We live in our own packs, and leave our young here to hibernate, while we wander or return to our territory. But once our young are Shortwings, they live here, learning to survive on their own, and they will form packs with the other Shortwings. They leave before the year is out. Sometimes they rejoin the packs that their parents are in.*

*Both parents? Do fathers ever help raise the hatchlings?*

*Of course, but having so many males in one place like here would be a disaster,* Honeyclaw replied, looking out over the cliff. *They simply remain with the pack while the females find the hatchlings… unless there are too many for the mother to easily handle on the journey at once,* she added, and Hiccup followed her gaze to see a female Gronckle, a male Gronckle, and maybe fifteen hatchlings- they didn't hold still for him to count- approaching them.

*Do you know this human?* the female asked Honeyclaw.

*We met yesterday,* she replied. *Why?*

*Does he know where to find a blue dragon with green eyes and a long wingspan in his Shortwing growing year?*

*Yes, I think he's flying with some Nadders and Nightmares his age,* Hiccup replied. The female Gronckle looked a little surprised he could speak- she had heard a rumor but didn't quite believe it.

Hiccup looked, but didn't see Toothless in the dense flock of dragons. *Can you see them?* he asked Honeyclaw. *Your eyesight is better than mine, I'm sure.*

The Nadder looked out over the cliff, calling the names of her hatchlings and Toothless a moment later. Her three hatchlings obediently came, and Toothless followed.

*What is it?* Toothless asked.

*This Gronckle knows you, I believe,* Hiccup replied. The blue dragon turned to her.

*Are you Bluecloud?* she asked.

*Yes, but I am Toothless now,* he answered.

Hiccup was surprised for a moment before he realized that of course Toothless would have already had a name. *That name sounds better than what I gave you,* Hiccup said. *Less insulting. Would you rather go by that?*

Toothless shook his head. *I like it. It will make my enemies underestimate me.*

*Because of your retractable teeth?* questioned the Gronckle.

*Your WHAT?* Hiccup cried.

Toothless pouted. *I was HOPING to keep it a secret a little longer.*

*You have teeth?* Hiccup demanded.

Toothless laughed. *What kind of dragon would I be if I didn't have teeth?* He grinned at Hiccup, but this time, his mouth was full of sharp white teeth.

Hiccup's heart soared. He wanted to be mad at his dragon for keeping it a secret for so long, but he couldn't. Toothless had teeth! He could actually pass the Initiation Test! He couldn't wait to tell Fishlegs.

Toothless pulled his teeth back into his gums, then put them out again with a soft but audible shink. He was obviously very pleased with himself.

The female Gronckle let out a soft growl to get their attention, while the male tried to keep the hatchlings in order.

*I don't think I've met you, so do you know my mother?* Toothless asked. *Is she here?* he stood on his hind legs for a second to peer through the flock.

*No, little one, your mother isn't here,* the Gronckle said hesitantly. Toothless cocked his head, confused, but Hiccup felt dread in the pit of his stomach. *She flew with my pack during your hibernating season. A storm blew us too close one night to a Viking village north from here, and they started to fire rocks at us. My brother and his mate had new hatchlings, so she flew while your mother, my brother, my mate, and I bought them time to escape. It was only the four of us in the sky, and they aimed all of their catapults at us…* Hiccup glanced at Toothless, whose wings were starting to droop as fear and realization grew in his eyes. *Your mother took out two of them, but when she tried to avoid the third she dove right into the path of the fourth… and she fell. My brother also fell, and it is only through the actions of your mother that the rest of us escaped. I'm so sorry.*

Toothless trembled. *N-no… no… she wouldn't… no…*

*We tried to see if we could help her, but there was nothing we could do,* the Gronckle said gently.

*NO!* Toothless cried, jumping into the air and flying frantically through the flock, calling for his mother.

"Oh, Thor, no," Hiccup said. *Please, Honeyclaw, would you go after him? He could hurt himself,* he pleaded.

*Stay here,* the Nadder said sternly to her hatchlings and they stayed put, realizing the gravity of the situation, as Honeyclaw flew off after Toothless.

Hiccup waited anxiously for five minutes before Toothless returned, landing limply on the clifftop. *She's gone,* he let out a sob and curled in on himself, hiding his face under his wing.

Hiccup didn't know what to do. Despite knowing a lot about the dragons that lived around Berk, he didn't know how dragons comforted each other. Vikings weren't exactly caring and comforting people either. But Hiccup supposed there were some advantages to being as unvikinglike as he was.

Hiccup knelt beside the little dragon and started gently stroking his head and rubbing his back, hoping he wasn't doing the wrong thing. The other dragons seemed a little surprised but didn't move or say anything.

After a few minutes, Toothless' sobs quieted and he pulled his head back out, still a little teary-eyed. Hiccup didn't know dragons could shed tears, or maybe it was just a Toothless Daydream thing.

*Are you okay?* Hiccup asked softly, and Toothless nodded faintly. *Do you want to stay here, or head back to the village?*

*Let's go back to the village,* Toothless said quietly.

*If you want, I can carry you,* Hiccup offered.

*Okay.*

Hiccup lifted the little dragon into his arms, grateful for once for his small size. He turned to the mother Gronckle. *Thank you for telling us. I'm sorry to hear about your brother.*

*Thank you. He was a good dragon. Take care of the little one. His mother told me much about him.*

*I will,* Hiccup promised. *And, Honeyclaw, thank you for all your help.*

*You are welcome, Hiccup-Viking. Perhaps our paths will cross again.*

Hiccup started back to the village, carefully holding Toothless and watching his step. He was glad that he did not have to trudge through the snow and instead could follow the path he had made that morning. Toothless closed his eyes and rested his head on Hiccup's shoulder as he walked. Once Hiccup got back to the village, he stayed away from the busier areas. At one point he saw Snotlout and his goons and quickly ducked behind a building- it was a really bad time for a confrontation. Fortunately, they went the other way, and Hiccup made it back to his house a minute later.

Fishlegs was waiting for him. "There you are, I-" he stopped when Hiccup quickly shook his head. Fishlegs frowned, confused, but silently followed Hiccup into the house, up the stairs, and into his room, where he gently laid Toothless in the middle of the bed. Toothless curled up with his head under his wing again, and Hiccup crept out of the room, followed by his curious friend. They went downstairs into the main room.

"Do dragons normally fall asleep in the middle of the day?" Fishlegs wondered.

Hiccup sighed. "Not really. They do nap, but they're usually active during the day. I think Gronckles nap pretty frequently, though."

Fishlegs nodded. "Yeah, that's what Meatlug is doing, but she'll probably wake up soon. That's partly why I came here- I'm not making much progress with the yelling method. How are things with you and Toothless?"

"Between me and Toothless? I'm not sure. I guess he knows I won't hurt him and he feels safe around me. We get along pretty well. But in general? Not good. I'm going to have to rethink some things."

"What happened?" Fishlegs asked as they both sat by the fire.

"Well, we made a deal that if I took him to find his mother, he'd show up once in a while and on Thor'sday Thursday so I'm not cast into exile or anything. So I went back to Wild Dragon Cliff yesterday…" Hiccup told about the trip, how he had avoided being shredded by mother dragons, how they had met Honeyclaw and her hatchlings, and how Hiccup had found out that dragons Toothless' age couldn't really fish and were taught by their mothers during the growing year.

"And then we went back today. It wasn't as hard getting in. We saw the Nadder family again, and Toothless played with the hatchlings for a bit. Anyway, at one point this family of Gronckles shows up. Apparently Toothless' mother was with their pack during the winter… but she didn't make it. She was shot down defending a member of the pack with new hatchlings."

"That's horrible," Fishlegs said. "I'm glad you won't be killed in revenge for taking Toothless, but it must be awful for him to lose her now, at his age."

"He seemed really fond of her," Hiccup agreed. "And now, since all the other dragons are leaving to their own territories… not only do I have to train him, I have to teach him how to fish, and Odin knows what else! I'm not a dragon! How am I supposed to know how to teach him to fish?"

"Well, if you can speak Dragonese, you must have spent a lot of time watching dragons. Surely you've seen them fishing before."

"That's true," Hiccup agreed, "I might not be totally lost. And I'm sure he's seen his mother fish. I just don't know how to tell him what he's looking for… Or what else he needs to learn. Maybe he knows. How to hunt, maybe? I certainly can't tell him how to breathe fire. Hopefully he already knows that. Maybe more advanced flying?"

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Fishlegs said. "And if you need a dragon's perspective, maybe you can ask Meatlug. She should know… well, except anything about fancy flying…"

Hiccup nodded. "Okay. You're right. I do have four months, I thought I would spend most of that getting the dragon to listen to me and acknowledge my existence. I guess I'm just waiting here for Toothless to wake up- if he is asleep- so if Meatlug is up, why don't you bring her over?"

"Great, thanks, Hiccup." Fishlegs left to get his dragon, and Hiccup checked on Toothless. The Toothless Daydream was fast asleep.

Fishlegs arrived a few minutes later with the dragon basket slung over his back. Once Hiccup closed the door, Fishlegs opened the basket and let Meatlug out. The Gronckle took to the air, growling and spitting, glaring at them with yellow eyes and thin pupils. She was a grayish brown, and her teeth were fairly straight and even by Gronckle standards.

*Hello, there, Meatlug,* Hiccup said. Meatlug landed by the fireplace, looking confused. *I'm Hiccup, and this is Fishlegs. I take it the two of you haven't gotten off to a great start.*

*Who are you that speaks our language? And of course we're not getting along. I don't want to be yelled at and subjected to his will, and he can't make me! He's too weak to control me!*

"She doesn't like being yelled and and she refuses to be subjected to you. She doesn't think you can make her."

"That's it. I'm doomed," Fishlegs said gloomily.

"You could try it the way I'm doing it with Toothless," Hiccup suggested.

"But I don't speak Dragonese!"

"She'll understand Norse well enough, given time. Newtsbreath and Hookfang don't seem to have any problems following conversations. Until then I can translate if you have issues."

"Might as well," Fishlegs sighed. "I don't think this way is working."

*Okay, Meatlug,* Hiccup continued. *I've spent a few years observing dragons and learning your language. So the reason you're here is because of this ridiculous tradition that says that we have to capture a dragon and train it by a certain day, or we'll be cast into exile. Fishlegs doesn't want to subject you to his will, he just doesn't want to be cast into exile and this is the only way he knows how to do it.*

*Neither of you would survive a week in exile,* Meatlug decided.

*Exactly,* Hiccup said, trying not to feel insulted. *But I have also got a dragon, he's asleep in my room, and we're getting along alright at the moment. Would you be willing to work with Fishlegs if he didn't yell at you or try to make you submit to him?*

*Maybe,* Meatlug said hesitantly.

*If you weren't here, you'd be at the cliff with the other new Shortwings, finding a pack, right?* Hiccup hoped he wasn't saying the wrong thing. *Consider us your pack. It's a little strange, but in a few years, all the dragons in the village that have been subjugated will get fed up and fly off, and if you choose to stay you'll be at the top.*

Meatlug considered this. *Alright. I'll stay for now.*

*At least for four months, long enough to ensure Fishlegs isn't exiled?* Hiccup checked, crossing his fingers.

*Fine. I will stay at least as long to keep the Fish-legged boy from exile.*

Hiccup grinned. "Great. Fishlegs, as long as you don't do anything to majorly annoy Meatlug, you should be fine come Thor'sday Thursday."

Fishlegs heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Hiccup. You're the best."

"No problem. Besides, you two can be my test subjects for my dragon training method. Seeing as you can't speak Dragonese, and she actually is a new Shortwing, I'll get a better idea of what to expect from the others who are normal."

"New dragon training method?" questioned Fishlegs.

"Yeah. Old Wrinkly suggested it, and since so far it seems to be working with Toothless, I guess I'll give it a try."

"Wow. Is there anything I need to do?"

"Well, I'm sure it would help if you gave Meatlug an apology. She should understand the general meaning, I think."

Fishlegs blushed a little but did so, apologizing for yelling at Meatlug and keeping her trapped in the basket. The Gronckle accepted, and Hiccup translated.

*I'm sure my dragon, Toothless, would like to meet you,* Hiccup told her afterwards, *but by chance he was in the wrong cave and so this is his growing year. We only found out about an hour ago that his mother didn't make it through the winter, so now is not the best time for introductions. *

*Oh. I understand," Meatlug said, her wings drooping in sympathy. *Maybe tomorrow or later this week?*

*I think so,* Hiccup replied. "Fishlegs, we'll introduce Meatlug and Toothless later this week."

"Sure," he agreed. "We should probably go now, so I'll just come to you if we have any issues?"

"Sure." Hiccup opened the door for them and they left, Fishlegs carrying the empty dragon basket and Meatlug flying only a little hesitantly after him.

Hiccup watched them go and then went to check on Toothless, who was still asleep. The little dragon would probably be hungry when he woke up, so Hiccup went through the fish that Newtsbreath and Hookfang had caught for Stoick the day before and pulled out a few of the smaller ones.

Then he returned to his room and sat and waited.

Toothless woke up half an hour later. He gave a huge toothless yawn and opened his eyes, then looked around, confused, until his eyes dawned with realization.

*Hey, Toothless,* Hiccup said softly. *How are you doing?*

Toothless gave a small whine and shrugged his wings.

*Are you hungry?* Hiccup tried.

*Not really.*

Hiccup sat down on the bed and thought. He didn't want Toothless to be so sad and lifeless- he was normally so cheerful and energetic. And not only because of the upcoming Initiation Test- Hiccup realized that he was coming to really care for the little dragon. He realized he didn't want Toothless to leave once the test was over if he had the chance.

*Tell me about your mother,* said Hiccup. *What was she like?*

Toothless was quiet for a moment. *She was very kind and caring. We never stayed with a pack long enough to call it our pack, but when we did she was always helping with the hatchlings and hunting and fishing for everyone. She was very good at hunting and fishing, and all the hatchlings loved her.* Toothless looked up at him. *I got jealous a few times, but she told me not to be because she loved me more than all of them.

*She was the best flier. She was big, a Titanwing, but she was the fastest and most agile flier I ever saw, and she could go higher than anyone else. All the other dragons we met said they had never seen a better flier than her. She was strong, and she protected everyone, like the Gronckles said, but she tried not to hurt anyone. She never liked fighting, even though she was so good at it. And she was smart and wise, she had the answer to almost every problem, and always knew what to say. I think that was because she was so old. She said she would teach me everything she knew someday.*

Toothless seemed to be tearing up again. Hiccup was rather shocked. While he had known dragons were intelligent, he hadn't realized they had that much depth to them. Maybe it was unique to not-so-Toothless Daydreams, or maybe it was because Hiccup had only really spoken to and observed younger dragons or adults in the frenzy of battle.

*She sounds like an amazing dragon,* Hiccup said. *I wish I could have met her.*

*I think she would have liked you,* Toothless said, resting his head on Hiccup's lap.

About half an hour later, Valhallarama returned home and made dinner, by which point Toothless had his appetite back, but was still a little subdued.

After they ate, the family sat around the fire, Valhallarama mending a shirt, Old Wrinkly smoking his pipe, Stoick carving a spear, and Hiccup just sitting, while Toothless curled around his feet and Newtsbreath and Hookfang wrestled on the floor.

"How is dragon training going, son?" boomed Stoick, noticing the dragon at his feet. "Looks like you already have pretty good control over him."

"Uh… yeah, it's going great," Hiccup said. "I was thinking of trying fishing tomorrow."

Toothless let out a small sigh. Hiccup knew it was probably because he had been looking forward to learning to fish with his mother, but Newtsbreath and Hookfang gave Toothless a smug look, pleased that the smaller dragon seemed to have been dominated by Vikings as well, while Valhallarama looked concerned.

"Do you think that's a good idea? He doesn't look very well."

"Well, he needs to learn. I can't always carry fish around for him," Hiccup replied, wondering if he had said too much. Fortunately, Stoick interpreted it as Toothless needed to learn to fend for himself instead of begging off Hiccup, and didn't instead question how Hiccup knew that Toothless had never been taught to fish. Old Wrinkly only chuckled and blew his pipe while Valhallarama eyed Hiccup somewhat suspiciously.

Hiccup changed the subject, asking his father about his day, and listened to Stoick go on about the tribal politics and hunting until it was time for bed. Hiccup bid Toothless goodnight as the dragon flew up to the rafters, and followed the others out of the room and up the stairs.

He stayed awake for a while, worrying and shivering in the winter chill. Hiccup spent the whole of winter on Berk in various states of "very cold," ranging from "fairly chilly" to "absolutely freezing." Too many layers at night was considered sissy, so Hiccup generally lay awake for a couple of hours until he had shivered himself into a light sleep.

But after half an hour or so, Hiccup heard a soft creak as his door was pushed open a little wider. At first he thought it was a breath of wind, but then he heard soft footsteps padding towards his bed.

Hiccup sat up, not knowing who or what would come into his room at night, but relaxed once he saw a pair of big, glowing, green eyes. Toothless wordlessly hopped onto the end of the bed and curled up next to the bedpost, his tail hanging off the side, and looked at Hiccup, his eyes both asking permission and daring the Viking to ask why he was up here instead of staying on the usual rafter.

But Hiccup simply scooted over a few inches and lifted the blanket next to him in silent invitation. Toothless crawled under gratefully and laid his head on Hiccup's chest.

Hiccup's shivering soon stilled, and he slept deeper and more soundly that night than he had in years.

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading, and thanks to everyone who reviewed! Two questions: How many digits of pi do you know, and what is your favorite kind of pie?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Welcome all to chapter 5! For those of you who are getting alerts etc, I fixed chapter 4, but I just edited it and didn't repost it as a new chapter, thus I don't believe any alerts were sent out, so if you haven't read it yet, I recommend doing that first!**

Toothless was in a good mood the next morning and didn't object to officially learning to fish, so Hiccup found himself at Long Beach, looking out over the cold blue-gray waves.

*Okay, so, fishing. I've seen Shortwings fish, you've seen your mother fish, together we should be able to-*

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup and Toothless turned to see Fishlegs jogging towards them, followed by Meatlug.

"I thought I would find you here," said Fishlegs when he reached them. "Either way, I thought it was a good time to start fishing and Meatlug was fine with it, so here we are."

"How did you tell her you wanted to fish?" Hiccup wondered.

"Uh… there was some pointing and sign language involved. But I think she got it pretty quickly. How's Toothless?"

"Good at the moment. We were just about to start. Meatlug could be a big help." Hiccup turned to the two dragons, who were eyeing each other. *Toothless, this is Meatlug, she's with Fishlegs. Meatlug, this is Toothless.*

*Hello,* Toothless said.

*Hello. You aren't really toothless, are you?*

*No.* Toothless demonstrated his retractable teeth.

"WHOA- he has teeth!" Fishlegs shouted in surprise and excitement.

"Sorry. I forgot," admitted Hiccup sheepishly.

*Cool! And I'm sorry about your mom,* Meatlug said.

*I miss her. But since she's not here, can you show me how to fish?*

Meatlug beat her wings and rose into the air, and Toothless jumped up after her, and they headed out over the water.

"Looks like they're off to a good start," said Hiccup happily. "I wonder if Snotlout has gotten Fireworm to fish for him yet."

Fishlegs grinned. "No. I saw him yelling at her before I came here. It was very impressive yelling, but she's a Monstrous Nightmare, and they don't give in easily. I think he even had a few scratches on his arm."

Hiccup smiled, pleased at the mental image. "We'll show him, Fishlegs, you and me. With Toothless and Meatlug, of course."

They turned their attention back to the dragons, where Toothless was watching as Meatlug flew low over the water, looking for fish, then flew up in the air and dove, dropping like a stone into the water on top of the fish. She emerged a few seconds later, beating her wings as hard as she could to lift off from the water, and she had a fish in her jaws and another in her claws.

As Gronckle jaws were full of sharp teeth, the fish in her mouth wasn't in the best condition to bring back to shore, and so she ate it. But Fishlegs was bouncing on his heels excitedly when she dropped the other fish at his feet.

"This is great! All my problems are solved! Thanks so much, Hiccup… and thanks, Meatlug."

Meatlug gave a small rumble, pleased, and when Fishlegs hesitantly scratched the bumpy skin behind her ears, she wiggled her tail happily.

*I think I get it…* Toothless said, joining them, *but I'm not a Gronckle. I don't think I can do it the same way.*

*Try looking for the fish like Meatlug told you,* Hiccup suggested, *and maybe instead of diving straight down in, maybe do it at an angle. Tuck your wings so you're going fast, grab the fish, and turn up again so you're still going kinda quickly when you come out, so it's easier to take off.*

*My m-mother did it a little like that sometimes,* Toothless said thoughtfully before flying off, Meatlug behind him. She hovered while he darted over the water, looking for fish. He saw one- or maybe a school- and he swooped upwards, doing a nice backwards loop to dive into the water at an angle. His head popped up a second later as he failed his wings to stay afloat. He struggled to lift off for a minute before Meatlug pulled him out of the water and into the air, and he flew back to Hiccup.

*It was _cold!_ * Toothless exclaimed when he circled around Hiccup's head.

*Are you able to fish?* Hiccup asked uncertainly. Gronckles did have thicker skin than most dragons, after all. Maybe only Meatlug could fish in this weather.

*I can handle a little cold,* Toothless retorted. *It just surprised me, and I opened my wings.*

*Try again, then,* Hiccup said. *Watch your wings this time.*

Toothless went out again, looking for fish, then spiraling upwards and back before diving into the water at an angle. This time, he swooped back up again, opening his wings and flapping hard the moment they were clear of the water, and after a moment he was safely in the air again.

*Great- try to catch the fish now,* Hiccup encouraged with a grin. Toothless dove down, but was stuck a second later as he held a thrashing fish in his claws and his wings had gotten caught in the water. Meatlug helped pull him out, but in the process he dropped the fish.

*Again,* Toothless insisted, determined. He zipped over the water, searching, then went into a backwards loop again and dove, keeping his wings tightly tucked to his sides. He sliced into the water, startling the school of fish, but he managed to grab one in his jaws and he opened his wings slightly, angling upwards again, and he burst from the sea, flapping hard. He heard Hiccup cheering, but he was a bit occupied by the squirming fish. He put his teeth out, holding it more securely, and it stilled.

"You did it!" Hiccup whooped as Toothless landed and dropped the fish at his feet. It was punctured with a semicircle of holes, and was smallish for a fish, but then, Toothless was smallish for a dragon.

Toothless grinned and wiggled his tail. *Will we take it back?*

Hiccup considered. *No, I think you should eat it. It's the first fish you've caught, after all. If you catch more we can take those home.*

*And the teeth marks might give away my secret weapon,* Toothless reasoned.

Hiccup wasn't sure if he was joking or not, so he didn't reply and Toothless snapped up the fish, swallowing and licking his lips in satisfaction.

"Hey, Hiccup," Fishlegs said, "I haven't really seen Toothless since the day he woke up, and- I could be wrong, as I don't remember exactly how big he was- but I think he's a little bigger."

Hiccup looked at his dragon, who was again doing his head-cocked-to-the-side cute act. "You know, you might be right," Hiccup realized. *Toothless, could you spread your wings?*

Toothless did so and Hiccup examined them. "Yeah, I think they've grown an inch or two in the past few days, and I think he's a little taller and longer too."

Toothless gave a pleased warble. *I will go catch more fish so I can grow faster!* He turned and took off, and Meatlug followed.

Hiccup and Fishlegs sat on the pebbled beach and shared an exhilarated grin. Life was going great, better than either of them had dared to imagine a month ago, and not only did they have dragons who were willingly obedient with less than a week of training, they were beginning to realize they had dragons who could become companions and true friends.

Toothless and Meatlug spent most of the day fishing. Meatlug wasn't as fast as Toothless, but she caught a fish almost every time she tried, and she caught several large fish as well. Toothless got stuck in the water and missed the fish several times at the beginning, but soon he was on his way to being a skilled fisher. He was a dragon, it was in his blood, after all. Hiccup let him eat half of the fish he caught, and Meatlug ate one out of every three fish she caught.

Eventually Toothless tired, and so did Meatlug a while later. Toothless fell asleep, his head in Hiccup's lap, and Meatlug napped between Toothless and Fishlegs. Fishlegs started a fire, and found a pair of sticks, and the two boys had a late lunch, roasting two of the smaller fish.

When the dragons woke up, they each caught two more fish and ate one, then they guarded their catches while the boys fetched baskets from the village.

Unfortunately, they ran into Snotlout and his gang, and on Snotlout's shoulder was perched a shiny red Monstrous Nightmare.

"Well, if it isn't the Useless and Fishface," Snotlout jeered. "I thought for sure you would have your dragons under control by now. Fishface I can understand- at least he has a Gronckle. But Useless can't even control his toothless flying worm!"

Dogsbreath and Wartihog laughed cruelly, while Fireworm eyed them with disdain.

"Fireworm and I came to an understanding just this morning," Snotlout said smugly. "I'd say we're on our way to being the Most Promising Viking Hero and Dragon on Thor'sday Thursday."

Hiccup noted that neither Dogsbreath nor Wartihog had their dragons with them either, but decided not to comment. Hiccup dearly wanted to retort that he had had Toothless responding to him from day one and Fishlegs Meatlug the day before and they were now in fact at the beach having caught eighteen fish not counting the ones they had eaten, but realized it could end badly. By the looks of it, Fishlegs was almost bursting to say something, but Hiccup grabbed his arm and hissed in his ear.

"Don't, they're faster and could get to the beach first." Fishlegs deflated, seeing that wouldn't end well, likely with the fish ruined or the dragons hurt.

Snotlout laughed again and had Dogsbreath shove them both into the snow. Once they were a safe distance away, Fishlegs commented brightly "You know, he almost complimented me at the beginning there. I think he's slipping."

Hiccup snickered in agreement, his good mood returned, and they grabbed two baskets and returned to the beach.

Valhallarama was in when Hiccup got home.

"Did you go fishing? How did it go?" she asked as she took the basket from him.

"Great!" Hiccup said happily. "Toothless caught sixteen fish, but I let him eat half of them so he can grow."

Toothless, who had been flying behind Hiccup, now landed on the Viking's shoulder and stuck out his chest proudly.

Hiccup's mother looked a little surprised and impressed. "Well. I'm glad for you, son."

Hiccup beamed. "We think he's grown a couple of inches too."

When Stoick arrived home and saw Toothless' catch he gave a booming laugh and slapped Hiccup on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward a few steps. But when Old Wrinkly caught Hiccup's eye and gave him a nod, Hiccup smiled in return. Maybe he was right- both about Hiccup's dragon and a new training method. Hiccup wouldn't doubt next time.

 **A/N: Thank you! What did you like? What didn't you like? What is your favorite mythical creature (aside from dragons, of course)?**


	6. Chapter 6

The next month passed peacefully and quickly for Hiccup. Toothless continued to grow rapidly, soon going from having a two-and-a-half-foot wingspan to a nearly four-foot wingspan, while his body grew a few inches and his tail a few more. Toothless' skill in flying, hunting, and fishing increased, and he and Hiccup grew closer, as did Fishlegs and Meatlug. When the next dragon raid came, neither Toothless nor Meatlug needed to be restrained and sat through it with their respective Vikings, making no attempt to escape.

But of course, things weren't entirely easy. For the first few weeks, Toothless often got upset, missing his mother, and there were miscommunications between Fishlegs and his dragon. Plus as a growing dragon, Toothless did tend to have mood swings and bouts of stubbornness.

One day, Hiccup, Toothless, Fishlegs, and Meatlug were returning from hunting to the west of the village. It was the beginning of March, a time on Berk where winter was at its end, and the island was no longer blanketed with snow but drenched in rain and buried in mud.

As it was, the four had caught nothing, and were rather soaked, muddy, and discouraged. When they reached Hiccup's house, Toothless landed on the ground and stepped through the door when Hiccup opened it, tracking in a good amount of mud.

*No, Toothless!* Hiccup cried in dismay. *Wait until I open the door, then land directly inside the house!*

*Open the door faster,* Toothless sniped.

*You could have waited five seconds before landing in the mud patch,* Hiccup retorted.

Toothless hissed in reply and used his tail to flip mud all over the Viking. *I'm HUNGRY!*

At this unfortunate moment, Snotlout and Dogsbreath came sauntering past the house, returning from the beach with their dragons on their shoulders.

"Well, well, well," sneered Snotlout, "if it isn't the USELESS, covered in dragon-flung mud. It actually quite suits you."

"Hur, hur, hur," snorted Dogsbreath.

*That's not a dragon,* jeered Seaslug, Dogsbreath's dragon, who was an ugly great Gronckle with a pug nose and a mean temper, *that's a newt with wings.*

*That's not a dragon,* scoffed Fireworm, Snotlout's dragon, who was as big a bully as her master, *that's an ickle newborn bunny wabbit throwing a temper tantrum.*

Toothless growled and hopped onto Hiccup's shoulder, unfortunately making his tunic even muddier. *You're just jealous of my aerodynamic scales.*

Fireworm gave a dismissive sniff, but Seaslug looked confused by the word 'aerodynamic.'

Snotlout showed Hiccup the immense heap of fish that he had wrapped up in his cloak.

"Look what Fireworm and Seaslug caught down at the beach. And it only took a couple of hours…"

Fireworm coughed, flexed a shining muscle or two, and looked at her claws in fake modesty. *Oh, please,* she drawled. *I wasn't even CONCENTRATING. If I was TRYING, I could do it in ten minutes, with one wing tied behind my back.*

Toothless snorted. *Impossible.*

*For you, maybe,* purred the Nightmare.

*You can show us all your amazing one-winged flying on Thor'sday Thursday. I'll be catching fish.*

Meatlug gave a rumbling laugh while Fireworm lifted her lips in a snarl.

"We think Fireworm could be a bit of a HUNTING LEGEND," Snotlout continued, oblivious. "Your Meatlug, on the other hand, Fishface, seems a little _tame_ for a Gronckle. Strong jaw, though- does she hunt clams?" He turned to Hiccup. "What about you, has the toothless wonder worked up the nerve to attack a shellfish? Clams are hard and crunchy, but maybe he could manage a squished sea cucumber… you could give it to him through a straw, perhaps…"

"HUR, HUR, HUR," Dogsbreath laughed so hard that snot came snorting out of his nose.

"Careful, Dogsbreath," said Fishlegs politely, "your brains are coming out."

Dogsbreath made to shove Fishlegs but missed, due to Meatlug hovering in front of him and growling. Even Dogsbreath knew it was a bad idea to hit an angry Gronckle. Hiccup and Fishlegs staggered off through the mud, and Fireworm lunged at Toothless as they passed, but he simply leaned back to avoid her and gave her an unimpressed look.

Once they were safely out of earshot, Toothless snorted. *We should set her up with Newtsbreath. They were made for each other.*

Meatlug sniggered and so did Fishlegs once Hiccup translated.

"That would be interesting," Hiccup agreed. "Seriously, though… 'Your dragon is a good clam hunter'? Is that the worst he can do? I think he's still in shock that you got a Gronckle."

*Say whatever you want, I am staying far away from that Seaslug creature,* Meatlug declared, and Toothless nodded quickly in agreement.

"All right… well, now we know neither of them are at the beach, should we go catch fish and wash some of this mud off?" Hiccup suggested.

Half an hour later, the boys were somewhat cleaner and roasting fish and the dragons had caught their fill as well.

*Sorry I got mad and got mud in your house,* Toothless said as they sat around the fire.

*It's fine… just don't do it again. And help me clean it up… and if someone else sees it first, I'm blaming you,* Hiccup replied.

Toothless headbutted him in the stomach playfully, then settled down beside him, purring, as Hiccup scratched behind his ear flaps.

Another month passed, March turning to April, and Toothless continued to grow, gaining a little more than a foot in his wings so they now had an impressive six-foot span. Whenever Toothless flew in the mornings, he was a little clumsy as he adjusted to the extra length, but after a few minutes was performing dizzying aerial acrobatics. Hiccup was thrilled by his growth and wanted to boast to Snotlout and the others, but Toothless disagreed. He had quite enjoyed the look on Hiccup's and Fishlegs' faces when they learned of his retractable teeth, and wanted to improve and have his wings grow longer so as to have a greater effect. He tucked his wings and kept his teeth hidden whenever Snotlout and Fireworm were near, and Hiccup endured being teased silently, but it didn't bother him as much when he too thought about the looks on their faces when Toothless revealed all.

Toothless did, however, show off his impressive wingspan to Stoick the Vast and the others in Hiccup's family. Stoick was often beaming in pride for his son, and he did boast to the other villagers, but most assumed his accounts were exaggerated and just smiled and nodded to avoid his famous temper.

Toothless even made peace with Newtsbreath and Hookfang, as he could hold his own in a fight for a while against one of them and could very nearly out fly them, but he still spent the night in Hiccup's bed, his wings making a nice heated blanket over the Viking.

The next dragon raid came at the beginning of the month. They tended to happen on a roughly monthly basis, so Hiccup and all the other Hooligans had been expecting one soon. When it came, Old Wrinkly was visiting some other friends, but there was enough warning for Stoick to shut Newtsbreath and Hookfang in Cloudjumper's stable before going out to lead and fight, followed by Valhallarama.

Soon Hiccup was alone in the house with Toothless. They sat next to the fire and waited.

*Do you think we should go out and help?* Hiccup wondered.

Toothless looked at him doubtfully. *Maybe I could fight, but not against Broadwings for very long. I don't think you can fight very well either.*

Hiccup sighed. *Yeah… we probably would just get in the way. I can't carry enough water to help much with putting out fires, and it would draw too much attention if I had you do it.*

Toothless nodded and put his head down on his front paws. Hiccup leaned against him and was starting to doze off a little when a Gronckle blasted through the wall.

Hiccup yelped and scrambled to his feet, and Toothless jumped up next to him. The Gronckle looked delighted. *Go, little one, you're free! Fly!*

Toothless eyed the smoldering hole in the wall and turned and zipped out the front door.

"Wait!" Hiccup called after him, eyes wide and voice wavering. He had honestly thought they were friends… that the dragon would at least pause to think before leaving him. His eyes searched the empty doorway, the partly open door showing only the dark and empty night. Hiccup's shoulders slumped and he held back a few tears before he turned and glared at the Gronckle, who chuckled but took pity on the scrawny Viking and flew back out the hole without setting anything else aflame.

Hiccup ran out the door, stumbling as he swiped a couple escaped tears from his cheeks, but he knew he needed to get water so the fire didn't spread. He yelped and tripped when he saw a familiar pair of glowing eyes.

*Are you alright?* Toothless asked, cocking his head in and looking the Viking over with concerned eyes. *The Gronckle didn't hurt you, did he?*

Hiccup blinked and stammered as he got to his feet and brushed off his knees. *Uh, no. I'm fine.*

*Okay. C'mon, we need water and a new place to take cover.*

Toothless turned and darted off towards the well. Hiccup jogged after him, shaking his head at himself and letting out a small laugh. They each took a bucket and hurried back to douse the spreading fire, Hiccup dumping his on the hottest areas and Toothless taking mouthfuls of water and spraying it out from between his teeth at the edges. Soon the hole in the wall was damp and cooled, only steaming slightly, but it let in a bit of wind and made the house nearly as bad as staying outside.

Hiccup and Toothless went back out to the nearest sturdy building. Hiccup stopped for a moment- it was Cloudjumper's stable- but he quickly tugged at the door when a blast from a Nadder narrowly missed his head.

The two ducked inside and Hiccup pulled the massive door shut with some effort, then turned to face the other dragons.

*Hello,* Toothless chirped as he hopped in front of Hiccup, *a Gronckle blasted through our wall. Mind if we join you?*

Hiccup shrank back against the wall as Newtsbreath's, Hookfang's, and Cloudjumper's golden eyes fixed on them. He knew the Nightmares fairly well, or at least he knew how to avoid them, but as Cloudjumper was too massive to reasonably fit into the house and as Hiccup had never had reason not to think all adult dragons were vicious and hated Vikings, he had tried to avoid the huge Stormcutter.

*You are welcome, small one, and the Hiccup-Viking as well,* the four-winged dragon rumbled, relaxing from his alert position on the straw floor.

*Thanks,* Toothless trilled, and Hiccup just sat against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest.

They were all quiet for a minute, listening to the sounds of the raid outside, before Cloudjumper broke the silence.

*Young one, are you the dragon that is called 'Toothless?'*

*Yes, but I'm not really toothless. I have retractable teeth.*

*Very nice.* Cloudjumper stretched his head forward to peer owlishly at the smaller dragon's gums. Hiccup pressed himself back, his heart thumping, and Cloudjumper straightened again, now eyeing him.

*How has Hiccup been treating you, Toothless? And how goes the training?* He gave a rumbling chuckle. *He doesn't seem like the intimidating yeller type.*

Excellent. The huge dragon didn't see him as any sort of threat in a fight. Not that Hiccup had expected otherwise…

*Good. He's been kind, but I think at the beginning he was mostly scared of my mother.*

*You're not a Shortwing yet,* Cloudjumper remembered. *Where is your mother?*

*She died while I was hibernating,* Toothless said, his voice only wobbling a little, and Hiccup put a supportive hand on his back. *You remind me of her a bit, at least more than any other dragon I've met here yet. We went looking for her at the cliffs-*

*We?* questioned Cloudjumper.

There was a bang and the building shook a little. Everyone froze, but after a moment they relaxed and Toothless answered.

*Me and Hiccup. A mother Gronckle told us what happened. Hiccup, Meatlug, and Fishlegs helped me after, and I'm happy here.*

*Well.* Cloudjumper's eyes widened and he cocked his head in a manner similar to Toothless. *While I don't see Hiccup as the intimidating type, I didn't believe he would think to be kind to whichever dragon he captured. I'm glad for you.* Cloudjumper leaned in again as if to tell a secret. *That's why I'm still here. Valka is kind to me as well, a true companion, and she is why I didn't leave when I became a broadwing.*

Hiccup's jaw dropped. The Stormcutter knew his mother's nickname? His mother was _kind_ to dragons?

*How did I not know this?* Hiccup exclaimed. *No wonder all the dragons listen to her with barely a stern word! You all respect her, but not out of fear! It all makes sense now!* He knew his mother wasn't very Vikinglike aside from her command over the dragons, he should have seen it!

Cloudjumper let out a small squawk and stared at him, his own jaw hanging open, while Newtsbreath and Hookfang snickered in the background.

*You… speak Dragonese?* the Stormcutter managed.

*Um, yeah,* Hiccup said, shrinking back again and going red. *I thought the dragons around here would have known by now…*

Cloudjumper turned to the two Nightmares, who were still snickering. *Did you know?*

*Yep,* replied Hookfang.

*Sure we did,* said Newtsbreath.

*Younglings,* Cloudjumper grumbled under his breath. *Well, Hiccup, I congratulate you. You have kept the secret well if neither I nor Valka know this.*

*What does my mother have to do with it?* Hiccup wondered, his brow furrowed.

Cloudjumper cocked his head. *Because your mother speaks Dragonese too, of course.*

 **A/N: Thanks all for reading! And a shoutout to** ** _when darkness meets light_** **for giving me that extra push to update.**

 **I figure I should probably answer my own questions... so *ahem,* my favorite jellybean is grapefruit, I know 65 digits of pi and my favorite flavor is possibly chocolate haupia, and my favorite mythical creature aside from dragons would be either a pegasus or a hippogriff.**

 **Leave questions, comments, constructive criticism, and/or your favorite kind of donut.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi all! It's been a while… sorry… school… but I am determined to see this through to the end. If I take too long to update, you can review and tell me so… I am guilt tripped pretty easily…**

 **Also, a huge, huge thank-you to AtlasSky, who made the amazing and adorable cover art!**

*WHAT? Oh, come on! Really?* Hiccup turned to his dragon. *Please tell me you didn't know this.*

*While the expression on your face is hilarious, no, I didn't know. I would have told you,* Toothless assured him. He eyed the two Nightmares. *Newtsbreath and Hookfang could have told me. Or you.*

The Chief's dragons just looked at them smugly.

*Well, this changes things,* Hiccup huffed. *Not sure what yet. But things.*

*Wake up early and come outside tomorrow morning,* Cloudjumper suggested in a gentle but amused voice. *We'll be up as always, and you can talk.*

Hiccup nodded once. He knew his mother was up early every morning, he just hadn't suspected that her dragon was too.

*Bring us some fish,* Hookfang requested, giving a yawn and resting his head on his paws.

Toothless perked up, mischief dancing in his eyes. *Heyy Newtsbreath, you know Snotlout's dragon Fireworm?*

Hiccup groaned and laid down on the straw and closed his eyes, confident that if one of the Nightmares moved to attack, Toothless would protect him… and if he was too busy teasing and bickering with them, Cloudjumper hopefully would.

Hiccup dozed for a few minutes before he was roughly awakened by a rush of cold air as the door swung open.

"Hiccup! There you are!" Valhallarama stood in the doorway, Stoick a few steps behind her.

Hiccup took a moment to mentally switch back to Norse. "Hi. A Gronckle blew a hole in the wall. I put out the fire, but it was a bit drafty so we came in here. I guess we could have gone up to my room, but we didn't." Hiccup closed his mouth as he realized he was babbling a little, unsure what to say to his mother.

Toothless stretched, arching his back and flapping his wings, then followed his Viking nonchalantly out the door. With a few gently screamed words from Stoick, Newtsbreath and Hookfang slunk after them.

Hiccup went up to his room and got in bed, waiting for ten minutes before Stoick left to attend to Chiefly things, and Toothless was able to sneak in and crawl onto the bed.

Hiccup didn't have any trouble waking early the next morning. Despite Toothless' warmth, Hiccup tossed and turned, waking up every hour or so. When it was actually time to get up, Toothless grumbled a little, but followed Hiccup down the stairs, yawning.

Hiccup sat on the front step, while Toothless curled up next to him and fell back asleep. Hiccup leaned into the warm reptile and they waited as the sky grew lighter.

Soon Hiccup heard the flapping of giant wings, and Cloudjumper landed in front of his stable, Valhallarama leaping down from his back.

Hiccup gently shook Toothless awake and then walked a little shakily towards the pair.

"Good morning, Hiccup," Valhallarama said, a slightly confused expression on her face. "You're up early."

"Um… Yeah…" Hiccup fiddled with the edge of his tunic.

*Good morning!* Toothless warbled, hopping up next to Hiccup and wiggling his tail. *Did you catch any fish?*

*No fish. Sorry,* Cloudjumper apologized.

*Then we'll catch fish now!* Toothless decided. *Let's go!* He turned and bounced a few steps before flapping in the direction of the beach.

"Uh, Toothless-" Hiccup protested, but Cloudjumper followed after giving a chuckle.

*Hurry up, you two!* Toothless called.

"I think they want fish," Valhallarama said.

"Uh, yeah." Hiccup followed his mother and they headed towards the beach.

Toothless flew back to them after a minute, a suspiciously playful glint in his eyes. *So, how many fish can Cloudjumper catch?*

"I don't think we'll be at the beach too terribly long," Valka said, turning to Hiccup. "Cloudjumper doesn't catch many fish, he's quite large and scares most of them away before he is in the water, but the ones he does catch are big enough to feed the whole family a meal."

"Okay, sounds good," Hiccup replied, glancing at the small blue dragon.

*You're no fun either,* Toothless grumbled. *Okay, then, Hiccup, how many fish do you think I can catch?*

Hiccup let out a huff and glared at Toothless, who grinned back gummily.

*It's rude not to answer a question,* Toothless said in a sing-song voice.

"You can be really annoying when you feel like it." Hiccup muttered.

*But you love me anyway,* the dragon chirped. Hiccup glanced at his mother, who was watching them with fond amusement.

Toothless landed on Hiccup's shoulder and stared into Hiccup's eyes when he turned his head. *Talk. You've both been very clever with your answers. Just admit it already.*

Hiccup looked at his mother, who now had her brow furrowed and an uncertain frown on her face, then back at Toothless, who wore an unrelenting expression. He looked around and saw they had arrived at the beach, and there was no one else around. "Fine. Mom, I know you speak Dragonese, and I speak it too."

Valhallarama's eyes widened and she froze for a moment. "What are you talking about?" she said, her eyes darting back and forth between Hiccup, Toothless, and Cloudjumper.

The Stormcutter landed on the beach. *I only found out last night, Valka. I told them you speak it. You can speak freely,* he said soothingly.

Valhallarama gave a nod and turned to her son. "Truly? You speak it? For how long?"

"I've been studying dragons for the past few years, I guess," Hiccup said. "It's weird that I didn't know until Cloudjumper told me."

*I suspect Newtsbreath and Hookfang had fun keeping it a secret," Cloudjumper noted.

Valhallarama took Hiccup's face in her hands, her eyes searching it in astonishment for a moment before she let out a joy-filled laugh, pulling him into a hug. "All this time, you took after me!"

*Well, he sure didn't seem to take after the Chief,* Toothless snorted.

Valhallarama ignored the dragon and pulled Hiccup down to sit next to her on the nearest bit of driftwood. "How did you learn it? How exactly have you been training Toothless? What other dragons have you spoken to? Tell me everything."

"Er…" Hiccup's head was still spinning a little, but he managed to answer. He began slowly, but words were soon spilling out of his mouth, telling his mother about dragon-watching, imitating the sounds they made until he could understand them, studying the language, and he talked about Toothless, how he had found him in the cave, how he had been named, how the first few days had gone, visiting Wild Dragon Cliff, fishing, and everything leading up to the conversation with Cloudjumper.

Toothless perched on the log next to his Viking and frequently interrupted to add his input. When Hiccup had reached the end of his tale, his mother had a smile on her face.

"So, um, do you think I've been doing the right thing?" Hiccup asked, glancing at her.

"Hiccup, I couldn't be more proud. You're making a difference, one dragon at a time."

*I don't know where I would be if you decided to yell at me like a proper Viking,* Toothless crooned and nudged him.

*If I could even scare you with yelling in the first place, you would have put on your innocent face and been perfectly obedient until the first raid came around, then when you were determined to be too docile to lock up you would have escaped the moment the door opened.*

Toothless laughed. *Yes. But then I would have found out about my mother, all the other mother dragons and dragons my age would have left the cliffs, and I would be left to the mercy of the new Shortwings fighting each other for dominance.*

*True,* Hiccup said with a nod.

*I don't think anything anyone could have done would have scared Toothless into respecting them. He's too strong-willed,* Valka said, and scratched the dragon under the chin.

*I don't know, Dad's yelling is pretty impressive,* Hiccup said.

*Oh, maybe he could have scared him into submission, but Toothless would have found a way to escape.*

*I guess you would have,* Hiccup agreed.

*No Viking will take my freedom without a fight,* Toothless pushed out his chest and lifted his head, but the effect was a bit diminished by his purring as Valka continued to scratch under his chin.

*Admirable. I'm afraid I wasn't so self-assured when I was taken from the caves,* Cloudjumper said.

*You? Shy and vulnerable?* Toothless said.

*Believe it or not, he was,* Valhallarama said. *Let me tell you how I came to speak Dragonese…* And so she began her tale.

*As you can imagine, I was never very Viking-like. Much like you. But I wanted to prove myself, to be more than just a housewife, and so I joined the initiation program with my friends. When I saw Cloudjumper, I had a feeling, as if this was the dragon I was meant to have. In reality, I suspect I was taken in by the lack of massive teeth jutting out haphazardly from his jaw.*

Hiccup snickered, recalling his similar decision in choosing Meatlug.

*When the others saw I had a Stormcutter, they were all quite impressed. And when he woke up, I tried yelling at him. He was a little afraid, but not truly intimidated. My mother yelling at him was much more effective. My father, on the other hand, was more gentle, sometimes giving him fish and meat, and he was a little less timid around him, yet not aggressive. I kept thinking about this, and I watched him when he thought I wasn't looking. I saw him play with the other dragons, and listened, and realized that if I tried hard enough, I could learn it and maybe he would listen to me that way. But I wouldn't get very far if he wasn't willing to help me, and I couldn't ask my mother to yell at him for that. So I tried being kind to him, and being shy as he was, he responded. Working together, I managed to learn Dragonese, though I wasn't fluent until a year after the Initiation Test.*

*What did your friends think?* Hiccup asked.

*I never told them. I suggested being kind once, but they laughed at me. They said only yelling could control dragons, there was no way anything else could tame the likes of Stoick's Nightmare.*

*Did your dad know?* Hiccup wondered. *He's the one who suggested I try to come up with an alternative training method.*

*He did, did he?* Valka said. *He thought I should do the same. But I wasn't much of a warrior, and not the daughter of anyone of particularly high rank. It wouldn't have gone well. And I didn't think anyone could change.*

*What about now?* Toothless asked.

*I still doubt it, unless we have something that would really convince people to open their eyes and see another perspective. Hooligans are a stubborn lot.*

*Positively pig-headed,* Cloudjumper put in.

The four were silent, pondering as the waves crashed and the seagulls gave taunting cries.

*How about this,* Hiccup said slowly. *We'd need to get Meatlug and Fishlegs in on it. But why don't we use our small sizes to our advantage?*

*How so?* asked Cloudjumper.

*Everyone- except father- thinks that Toothless is rather small and about as unimpressive as a Shortwing can get. But they haven't seen his wingspan, or seen him fly.*

Toothless chuckled to himself. *It'll be funny to see all their jaws drop.*

Hiccup nodded. *Yeah, so if you do the big reveal on Thor'sday Thursday, make yourself look as scary as possible, show off a bunch, and catch the most fish…*

*If you win the award for Most Promising Dragon, they might just listen to what you have to say!* Valhallarama was thrilled. *And perhaps if we can ease Stoick into the idea first…*

*I'll probably get exiled if they find out I speak Dragonese, though,* Hiccup said.

His mother smiled. *No, I managed to convince Stoick to change the law… Just in case someone happened to learn it and could eavesdrop on the dragons' plans for the raids, of course.*

*Oh, good,* Hiccup sighed in relief.

*You didn't think I wouldn't leave myself a way out if I was discovered, did you?* she gently teased.

*Fishlegs and Meatlug can help too,* Toothless said. *Fishlegs doesn't speak Dragonese, but he can still join us.*

Cloudjumper nodded at that. *If Meatlug is obedient, catches a respectable amount of fish, and looks fierce enough, then people might realize it is possible to train a dragon without yelling and intimidating even without learning a new language.*

*Fishlegs is pretty terrible at intimidation,* Toothless chirped.

Valka clasped her hands together. *Wonderful! Toothless, we'll have to train you a bit, make sure you can be as impressive as possible. Cloudjumper can help you with flying technique- you do have similar wing shapes and both have tailfins of a sort.*

*You think… you think we can do this? We can convince people to train dragons differently?*

*It's the best chance we've ever had. And if all goes well, the dragons will see what is going on, and that will be the end of the raids. No more fighting, no more deaths or flamed houses, just peace, and teamwork.*

Valka looked out over the ocean, the rising sun reflecting off her eyes, and a serene smile on her face. When Hiccup thought about it, he had to smile too.

 **A/N: Thank you all! What did you like? What could be done better? What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?**


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Hey guys! *sheepishly waves* Sorry it's been a while… my muse took a trip to other universes. I'd like to thank you for your patience, and also thank you to those of you who gently pestered me to keep writing- without you, this might not be here today! I realize this is pretty short, but the next few should hopfully be longer and juicier. So, without further ado-_

Chapter 8

The next couple weeks were pretty much the same in the life of one Hiccup and his Toothless Daydream, but for waking up earlier and going out with his mother and Cloudjumper. After hiking to a more remote part of the island, Hiccup sat off to the side and shouted encouragement while Cloudjumper coached Toothless, usually with Valka on his back. The two dragons would perform impossibly twisty and turny acrobatics, then soar to ever higher altitudes, so eventually Hiccup was unable to see his dragon and could only make out the large tan silhouette of the Stormcutter. He was surprised to note that Toothless did seem to be getting a bit darker. Hiccup was walking back to the village with his mother and the two dragons, a new spring in his step, when they met Fishlegs and Meatlug.

" _There_ you are," Fishlegs said. Hiccup paused while his mother and her dragon went on, and Toothless landed on his shoulder. Hiccup lost his balance for a second.

*You're heavy,* he grumbled.

*You'll have to hold me on your arm in less than a month. Get used to it,* Toothless advised.

"Snotlout and the gang are holding a little contest, see what everyone can do a few weeks before Thor'sday Thursday. Do you think we should join?" Fishlegs asked.

"That might be a good idea," Hiccup mused. "We can check out the competition."

*I still want to impress everyone at the actual contest,* Toothless huffed. There would be a bigger audience then.

*Underplay it if you have to,* Hiccup said. "We can be sure no one else will be holding back. They love a chance to show off."

And with that, the foursome headed down to the beach.

Snotlout laughed when he saw them. "Well, if it isn't the Useless and his followers. Come to see how the real Vikings do it?"

"We wanted to check how lousy the competition was before we waste too much effort wiping the floor with you," Fishlegs said cheerfully. Hiccup groaned. His friend really chose the wrong moment to be bold sometimes.

Snotlout snorted. "Bash him, Dogsbreath."

Dogsbreath stepped forward, but Meatlug spat lava-like fire at the ground, narrowly missing the thug's toes, growling in challenge.

*Pet,* Fireworm sneered from Snotlout's shoulder.

*Companion and packmate, actually,* Meatlug growled.

*Much better than being a slave,* Toothless chimed in.

Fireworm snarled and lunged at him.

"ENOUGH YOU SLIMY LIZARD!" Snotlout shouted, and she retreated. "Well, Fishlegs. You surprised me. I assumed your dragon was a pussy. Why are you still following Useless Loser and his newt?"

"I prefer friends with actual intelligence," he replied. "Shall we start the contest?"

Snotlout sneered and stepped back. "Your dragon may have given you a backbone, Fish, but we will still pulverize you. Not even a Gronckle can compare to my Fireworm."

Toothless opened his mouth, but Hiccup interrupted before he could speak and make matters worse. "I guess we'll see, won't we? Go ahead and show us what you can do."

The brutish teen eyed him suspiciously, but turned and made his way to the shore. "Oh, I will."

*Perfect obedience,* Hiccup hissed to his dragon as he walked down to the water's edge. *No need to give him any more ammunition. Just hold back a little.*

*Yes, yes, O wise and knowledgeable master,* Toothless said, rolling his eyes.

Hiccup opened his mouth to reply but shut it when Astrid Hofferson suddenly stepped between him and Fishlegs.

"How _did_ you do it, Fishlegs?" she asked. "There's no way you suddenly became good at yelling, and you definitely haven't become more physically intimidating."

"Uh…" Fishlegs fumbled for an answer while Meatlug and Astrid's Nadder, Stormfly, eyed each other. "Ask Hiccup," he finally said, pointing. "He gets it better than I."

Astrid turned her stare to him, hands on her hips. "That's right. Your toothless wonder looks like nothing, but it's got spirit, I noticed."

Toothless lifted his head and gave an imperious sniff.

"Yet it follows you everywhere. So how did you do it, and teach _him?"_ She gestured behind her to Fishlegs.

*Why is she suddenly interrogating you?* Meatlug questioned.

"No one just _gets_ as good as you two. _Especially_ you two."

"I… uh…" Hiccup stammered.

"Let's start!" Snotlout bellowed. "A race to that rock and back. Ready!"

Hiccup lifted Toothless on his arm. Hiccup was not a strong Viking. His arm shook even as Toothless helpfully flapped his wings a little to lessen his weight. Fishlegs was having similar issues. Astrid, on the other hand, was no body builder, but Stormfly perched attentively on her arm like a doubly deadly falcon on a master falconer's glove. If a twelve-year-old girl could be a master falconer.

"GO!" Snotlout screamed. Hiccup winced as Toothless unintentionally used his arm as a springboard to jump into the air, then watched as the dark blue dragon flew with wings half-extended in the middle of the pack… not that the pack was very large. Fireworm and Stormfly were racing for the lead, Meatlug buzzed behind Toothless, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut's Zippleback (Hiccup had no clue how that worked) meandered along behind them, though Hiccup suspected mainly for a reason to avoid the bickering twins. Seaslug hovered in slow circles around Dogsbreath's screaming head, and the other dragons were likewise uninterested until they figured out it was a competition and their pride was on the line and they got going, aside from a couple particularly stubborn dragons.

"Well?" Astrid demanded.

Fishlegs sidled up to Hiccup. " _Why is she interrogating us?_ "

Hiccup wondered if he realized he was echoing his dragon. "I guess we kind of had to come to an understanding? Treat them like companions, packmates, instead of breaking them?"

"Did your mom help you?" Astrid asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"NO!" Hiccup yelped. "I did it myself!" Well, his mom was helping Toothless a little now. But he most certainly did not need his _mom_ to control his dragon for him! "You see, if you try to dominate them, it turns into this whole contest of wills, and they're determined to disobey you and beat you. But if you work with them, they're much more agreeable."

"That wouldn't work," Astrid said. "Then they'd just ignore you, or walk all over you."

"Well how did you do it then?" Hiccup snapped.

Astrid smiled a dangerous smile. "We came to an understanding."

Hiccup exchanged glances with Fishlegs, silently agreeing not to ask any further. Skinny girl she may be, Astrid was _scary._

The dragons had made it around the rock and were nearly back. Fireworm and Stormfly were still in the lead, with Snotlout yelling and Astrid crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at her dragon. The Nadder and Nightmare were neck and neck, and Hiccup half expected them to start snapping at each other, but they only increased the pace of their flapping. Stormfly seemed about to pull ahead, but Fireworm bumped her enough to slow her for an instant, and the red dragon won by a nose. She landed on Snotlout's shoulder and preened, looking very pleased with herself, while Snotlout grinned and flexed his muscles.

Stormfly landed on Astrid's arm, nearly spitting sparks, and the girl ground her teeth together and glared at Snotlout while the others half-heartedly congratulated him.

Toothless flapped in a minute later and landed on Hiccup's shoulder, yawning. *Boring.*

*It was your idea to wait for Thor'sday Thursday," Hiccup reminded.

*I'll show them then,* Toothless nodded resolutely. *I just wish it was sooner.*

It was in a couple of weeks. And as the other initiates left the beach with their dragons- Snotlout had declared the contest over, probably to quit while he was ahead- Hiccup found himself not dreading it as much as he expected. In fact, he was almost looking forward to it.

/|\/\v/\/|\

The Thor'sday Thursday Celebrations were a truly spectacular occasion. The Hairy Hooligans' fierce rivals, the Meatheads, from the nearby Meathead Islands, sailed across the Inner Ocean to the Isle of Berk for this great gathering. The visitors set up camp in Black Heart Bay, which turned overnight from an empty desert of echoing seagulls into a bustling village of tents made out of sails too patched to be used at sea anymore. By the next morning the Long Beach was packed with stalls and jugglers and fortune tellers. There was a happy confusion of Vikings spotting old friends, and practicing their sword play, and yelling at the children to stop hitting each other RIGHT NOW for Thor's sake no I REALLY MEAN IT this time… or… or… or… ELSE.

Vast Viking men sat on uncomfortable rocks guffawing like sea lions in a holiday mood. Impressively large Viking women huddled in groups cackling like seagulls and downing entire mugs of tea in one swallow.

Despite Old Wrinkly's gloomy forecasts in the previous week of terrible storms and typhoons, it was a gloriously hot June day with not even a hint of a cloud in the offing.

The Young Heroes Final Initiation Test would not start until 2 P.M. that afternoon, so Hiccup spent the morning listening round-eyed to storytellers telling tall tales of Dirty Danes and pirate princesses.

His confidence had faded and he now was sick with nerves, so he found it difficult to enjoy the occasion as much as he had in previous years.

Even Gobber throwing up during the How Many Gulls' Egg s Can You Eat in One Minute? competition failed to raise more than a faint smile on his pale, tense face.

Hiccup's family had a picnic lunch overlooking the axe-fighting display. Hiccup could not eat a thing, nor, unusually, could Toothless, only sniffing at the tuna sandwich Hiccup's mother offered.

"Good to keep your dragon's appetite sharp for the game," boomed Stoick the Vast, who was in an excellent mood. He had won a bet on Goggletoad in the Ugliest Baby Contest and was looking forward to seeing his son's brilliant display in the Initiation Test.

Completely opposite to Hiccup's expectations before he got into this whole mess, he wasn't worried in the slightest if he would have enough control over his dragon to pass the Test. He trusted Toothless. No, his worries were much bigger- this test didn't determine his future. It determined the future of all Viking and dragonkind on Berk!

Hiccup scratched behind Toothless' earflaps, grateful again despite his queasiness that he had the dragon he did, and Toothless leaned into the touch silently. He just hoped the dragon was impressive enough to convince the other Vikings to consider changing their ways.

As the day wore on, a hot wind suddenly started blowing out of nowhere. It was still sweltering, but ominous gray clouds were gathering on the horizon.

 _Maybe Old Wrinkly had been right,_ thought Hiccup as he gazed upward, _and Thor is going to make his traditional appearance in the Thor'sday Thursday celebrations._

" _P-P-P-P-A-R-P!_ Will all youths hoping to be initiated into the tribes this year please make their way down to the ground at the left of the beach!"

Valka gripped Hiccup's shoulder. "Good luck. Make us proud."

Hiccup gulped and nodded as he nudged Toothless and stood up.

This was it.

 _A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review, let me know what you liked, what you didn't, if there's anything you'd particularly like to see in upcoming chapters, and/or what kind of dragon you think you'd have if you lived on Berk, book or movieverse!_


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